Buck Rogers Episode 3:  The Honeymoon is Over
by Keith Shaw
Summary: While investigating a terrorist group intent on destroying an Earth city, Buck follows the trail to a bigtime arms dealer hiding out on a planet only accessible to Newlyweds. The job becomes compromised when Buck meets an old enemy from the Legion of Doom
1. Chapter 1

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century

Episode 3

The Honeymoon is Over

by

Keith M. Shaw

Chapter 1

He entered the dark, smoky, crowded barroom slowly. His eyes took several moments to become accustomed to the dim lighting. When they did, he quickly surveyed the scene until he saw his target sitting at a corner table at the back of the barroom. Deliberately he walked across the room. He did not want to appear that he was in a hurry to leave the planet, which he was.

As he approached the table, two large, muscular men stepped from the side to block his access to the man behind. He stopped, looked up at the men.

"I have an appointment with Mister Caputi."

A deep voice sounded from behind the two bodyguards. "Let him through. I've been expecting Mister Bettino."

The two men stepped aside and the man slid into the bench seat across from the older man. Caputi stared at the newcomer through his dark glasses as he set his cup on the table.

"Right on time, Mister Bettino. I like that."

"Yes, Sir. I had a little trouble with the stellar authorities on Harper Five, but nothing I couldn't handle."

A sly smile crossed the older man's lips. "Yes, I heard about how you handled the Earth Alliance agents. That's why I like dealing with you, Bettino."  
"Yes, Sir. I understand you have some new prototypes for me to test?"

He nodded in approval. "Your sources are excellent, as usual. I have your normal order ready, plus as you mentioned, some prototypes for you to test and show to your colleagues. The shipment is being loaded on your ship at this moment."

"Thank you, Mister Caputi. I will test the new weapons and let you know how they work and if there is any interest in them."

He nodded as he extended a small electronic device across the table. "Now the matter of payment."

"Of course. The same arrangement as usual?"

Caputi nodded once. "You have been my best associate for a very long time. I have never had any problems with you being even a second late. Therefore, you are the only one I am comfortable with this arrangement. As usual, half now and the other half in one week."

Bettino smiled. He pressed his thumb onto the electronic device. "I really appreciate this, Mister Caputi."

Caputi grabbed the younger man by the wrist and cocked his head slightly. "However, you do know what happens to people who don't pay me on time."

Quickly Bettino nodded. "Yes, Sir, I do. I would never dream of stiffing you."

Caputi smiled and let go. "That's just a friendly reminder. So, will you be leaving right away?"

"Yes. I already have a demonstration scheduled on Ballista Prime. If I hurry, I can get there by tomorrow morning. What about you? On your way back to your impenetrable planet of love?"

Caputi chuckled slightly. "That's the first time I've heard it explained in that fashion. Yes, I'll be returning to my estate on Edenbridge soon. Care for a drink before you leave?"

Bettino shook his head, then noticed a man in uniform just enter the bar. "No, I'd better get going before he recognizes me from Harper Five."

"I understand. Just remember: one week."

He nodded as he carefully headed for the back exit.

The side of the mountain exploded into millions of rock shards. Bettino lowered the weapon and turned to face his colleagues. "And that is on the lowest setting."

The group of mercenaries smiled and nodded among themselves. "How many do you have to sell?"

Bettino scratched his chin. "How many do you need?"

"Two dozen."

He desperately tried to hide the broad smile growing inside. Instead he nodded once. "I have two that you can take right now. The rest I can get from my supplier and have them delivered to you by early next week."

The mercenaries looked and talked among themselves for a moment before agreeing to the deal. Suddenly they heard a rustling in the bushes and a figure flashed through the trees. Bettino pointed to the figure quickly.

"Kill him!"

Two of the mercenaries took off after the intruder. Bettino turned to the ones who remained behind. He picked up another one of his weapons. "I have one more thing to show you. This is kind of a prototype. Let me show you what this one will do."

He picked it up and attached it to the laser cannon on his ship. He then picked up the second one and attached it to the laser cannon on the other side. The two mercenaries came back into the clearing.

"He hopped into a short range transport," one said, breathing heavily. He pointed south. "Headed toward town."

Bettino smirked slightly. "Ladies, gentlemen: the rest of this demonstration will take place in the air. If you will all return to your ships and follow me, I will show you what this prototype will do."

Bettino hopped into his ship and flew south for half an hour. He came over a tall mountain and saw a small city nestled in the valley below. He grinned slightly to himself as he activated the video communicator with the other ships following.

"Now watch the show."

When he reached the outskirts of town, he pressed the trigger of his laser cannon once. A spherical silver object flew out of the weapon and imbedded itself into the ground. He then flew a quarter of the way around the city and fired another silver orb into the ground. He finished the circular pattern around the city until there were four silver orbs in the ground. He turned back to the monitor.

"I would suggest everyone to steer away from the city."

When all the ships were off to the side, he pressed the trigger one more time. Electrical waves quickly began to form on the four orbs. Within seconds, an arc of electricity fired from orb to orb until the city was surrounded by the arc. The arc rapidly constricted until it covered the entire city. Bettino chuckled as the city instantly vaporized. One of the mercenaries gasped at the demolition.

"Holy Maker! Did I just see that? You just killed an entire city?"

Bettino nodded. "Everything is vaporized. People, homes, businesses. Truly a weapon of mass destruction. And the best thing is that there are no other ill-effects to the environment. There is no radiation, no detrimental erosion. You are simply free to rebuild on the exact same spot with no cause for alarm."

"What is the range of those orbs?"

He grimaced slightly. "That's a good question. This was a small city. I believe that the range is about four times the demonstration here, but since it is still a prototype, I could be a little off on the specs."

"So it's not enough to destroy the city of New Chicago on Earth?"

Bettino shook his head. "I don't think so. But it might be big enough for a city like New Phoenix."

"When can you deliver a dozen of these?"

"That's going to take at least a month. Of course the weapons themselves are reusable, as long as you have the orbs to load. I can have a shipment of the orbs next week when I deliver the other supplies, if that is acceptable. Let's all land so we can finish our negotiations."

After landing in a clearing not far from the now-extinct city, Bettino pulled out an electronic fingerpad. He waited for several moments while the group of mercenaries gathered around discussing the terms of the agreement. Finally one stepped forward and pressed his thumb on the pad. Bettino smiled and nodded, then shook the mercenary's hand.

"You will not regret your decision. These are truly the best weapons on the market right now. Like I said, I can have them delivered to you by the beginning of next week."

The man nodded in approval. "Perfect. That will give us just enough time to plan our attack… against the Earth Alliance and the Defense Directorate."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Doctor Huer looked up when the door opened. He quickly rose to his feet and smiled. "Buck! You're looking rather, uh, chapper!'

Buck grinned. "Chipper."

"Yes, that's what I said."

Buck extended his hand to meet Huer's. After the handshake, he sat down across the desk as Twiki stood beside the chair.

"So did you enjoy your week off?"

"Yeah I did."

"Did you go off-world like Doctor Theopolis suggested?"

"Just a little bit. I spent the first couple days just exploring some of the ruins of Washington D.C.; going through the sites and remembering what they used to look like. Then I went to Florida and walked around some of the ruins there of where the space center used to be."

"And that was relaxing?" Huer questioned.

Buck nodded. "Believe it or not, yeah it was. It gave me a chance to think about some of the things I used to have and lost and what I have now. I liked what I had back then… but I like the things I have here, too."

"Glad to hear it, Buck. You said that took you a couple days?"

"Yep. I spent the first couple days among the ruins of the dead, then the next couple days with the zest of the living. We went to New Orleans for a few days."

"New Orleans?"

Buck snapped his fingers. "Oh, right. You call it City by the Sea."

"Of course, that's right. And you enjoyed your time there?"

"Beep-be-de-de-beep: you could say that. Hubba, hubba!"

Buck tapped the drone on the top of the head. "Even Twiki had a good time down there. We did some drinking, some dancing, some carousing."

"Beep-be-de-de-beep: What happens in New Orleans stays in New Orleans!"

Buck laughed while Huer looked on questioningly. Finally he simply nodded. "I'm just glad you had a good time. You really looked like you could use some time off."

"Yeah, I was getting kind of burned out."

"You did go off-world, though, didn't you?"  
"What is this? An interrogation?" Buck joked.

"No, no, no, not at all. Just curiosity."

Again Buck laughed. "Just kidding, Doc. Yeah, I did go off-world a couple days ago to Rigel Seven. Andromeda had given me an open invitation to see them live in concert. You remember them, don't you?"

"Andromeda? Yes, the musical group."

"Right! Anyway, they were playing on Rigel Seven and since that's just a hop, skip, and a jump away, I decided to take them up on the offer of seeing them play live."

"A hop, skip, and a jump away?"  
Buck ignored the question. "After the concert, they took me, er us, out for a night on the town."

"Beep-be-de-de-beep: talk about painting the town red, heh heh."

"Paint the town red?"  
Buck grinned, nodded. "We had a good time. We just got back late last night."

Doctor Huer tried in vain to figure out what Buck and Twiki were talking about for several moments before finally just giving up and sitting down. "I'm glad you enjoyed your time off."

"Any idea where Wilma is?" Buck asked. "I tried calling her a couple times, but she was never home."

"She should be here any minute. She was on assignment."

"Assignment? She didn't take any time off?"

Huer shook his head. "You know Colonel Deering. She prefers to work than take time off. I know both of you were a little shaken after your test flight failed a couple weeks ago. Are you sure there's nothing else we can do for you?"

"Thanks, Doc, but I'll be okay. The time off really did me good. So where was Wilma going?"  
"She was assigned to Therion Two. She was doing reconnaissance on a small terrorist cell named Freedom from Tyranny. They've been pirating our shipping lines, terrorizing other Earth Alliance governments."

"Why?"

"Their agenda is basically that they want the absolution of the Earth Alliance. They believe Earth should be expanding by conquest instead of diplomacy. They're mostly small-time, but we'd received information that they were planning something big."

"And by big you mean?"  
"The destruction of one of our cities," said a voice just stepping through the open door of the office.

Both men turned to see Wilma enter the room. Buck smiled and rapidly stood up. "Hi, Buck! How was your vacation?"

He wrapped his arms around her and gave her a big hug. She smiled and nodded. "Okay, must have been a good time!"

"It's good to see you, Wilma."

"You too. So what'd you do on vacation?"

"I'll tell you over dinner?"

Wilma frowned slightly. "We may not have time for that."

"What's up?"  
Wilma sat down in the second chair after handing Doctor Huer a file folder containing her report. "I just caught part of your conversation about the Freedom from Tyranny."

"Yeah. Doctor Huer said basically that they're a small-time outfit with big ideas but limited resources."

Wilma nodded. "I was able to get some information on them. A month ago I would have agreed with that assessment. However, it looks like they've received a large sum of money from somewhere."

"Where?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I couldn't figure that out. However, with the large cash infusion they've received, they are planning something big against Earth. I overheard one of their high-level meetings about possibly taking out one of our smaller cities, possibly New Phoenix."

"With what?" Huer asked. "All the reports I've ever seen on them says that they are strictly localized. They don't have the weaponry to put something of this scale together."

"I know. But the information I got implied that they were in the market for weapons, and I don't mean small ones."

"A weapons deal?" Buck asked.

She nodded. "Apparently they're looking to buy some large-scale weapons of mass destruction."

"So all we have to do is put a sting on them," Buck said.

"Sting?" Huer and Wilma asked in unison.

"I can go undercover as an arms dealer and pretend to sell them the weapons they're looking for."

Wilma shook her head.

"I can't? Why not?"  
She reached inside the folder and pulled out a photograph of a young, good looking man. "They've already made their deal. The funds have been transferred into another account. I couldn't track down where the money went, but I'm positive that they've already paid for their weapons."

"Then what do you suggest?" Doctor Huer asked.

"They've already paid for their shipment, but they haven't received it yet."

"So you want us to intercept the shipment," Buck interrupted.

"There's only one problem with that."

Huer sat back in his chair and rested his hands on the desk. "You were unable to get the time and location of the weapon exchange."

Wilma lowered her head slightly. "It's not like I didn't try."

"I know, Colonel. You did well in getting what information you did get."

Buck picked up the picture Wilma had extracted from the file. "So who's this?"

"That is the leader of the Freedom from Tyranny. His name is Bacote. Angstrom Bacote."

"And you were unable to get close enough to talk to him?" Huer asked.  
Wilma shook her head. "Oh, no. I talked to him. I talked to him at length. He's very easy to approach and talk to."

"But you couldn't get anything out of him?" Buck said.

"Nothing important. I thought you might be a better candidate to extract information out of him."

Buck shrugged. "I don't know what you expect me to do? You are the best person I know in getting information out of guys."  
"Normally I would agree. However, my wiles were ineffective against him."

Buck nodded. "Oh, I get it. He's been trained against subtle conversational interrogation tactics."

She shook her head.

"No? Then I don't understand why you think I could do a better job than you."

She smirked. "I wasn't his type."

Buck cocked his head to one side. "He prefers blondes?"

Wilma closed her eyes and shook her head. She opened her eyes and smirked again. "I'm not his type no matter what I'm wearing."

It suddenly hit Buck what she was talking about. His eyes widened beyond normal proportion. "Oh," he said slowly. "You're not his type… because he doesn't like women," he realized.

Wilma simply leaned back in her chair, smiled, and crossed her legs. Buck turned to face Doctor Huer. "Can I have another week of vacation?"

"Buck!" Wilma said.

"Buck, we need to get this information," Huer implored. "If this terrorist group gets a hold of these weapons, there's no telling what kind of damage they could do."

"I know, but isn't there someone else you could send?"

Wilma rested her hand on Buck's arm. "But you're the best agent we've got. Your planet needs you."

He glared at her out of the corner of her eye. "You're loving this, aren't you?"

She put an innocent look on her face. "I don't know what you're talking about."

He finally rolled his eyes and let his head fall into the back of the chair. "The things I do for my country. You're going to owe me!"

Wilma simply nodded and smiled.

Buck glanced at her again. "You _are_ enjoying this!"

"It's settled then," Huer said as he sat up again. "I'll have your fighter ready to go in thirty minutes."

"So soon?"  
"We have no idea when the drop is taking place. We need you to make contact as soon as possible."

Wilma began to giggle. Buck glared at her through furrowed eyes. "What's so funny?"

She tried desperately to put on her innocent face. "Oh, nothing."

"Uh-huh."

"You'll be given the normal supplies; subspace communicator, black-light bombs, everything you need. Let us know as soon as you make contact with Bacote."

Wilma giggled again. Buck tried to ignore her.

"I'll do my best. I'll let you know as soon as I find out what's up."

Wilma could no longer hold her laughter. Buck slapped her gently on the arm. "You are enjoying this way too much." He stood up. "Well, I'd better go pack. Come on, Twiki."

"Beep-be-de-de-beep: Beep-be-de-de-beep:"

Buck glared down at the droid. "Now don't you start," he warned.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Buck took a deep breath before walking into the busy bar. Quickly he surveyed the scene. Wilma's report had been accurate. He noticed Angstrom Bacote sitting in a corner booth just to the right of the door. He grimaced slightly as he strolled up to the bar. He sat down and got the bartender's attention. After ordering and receiving his drink, he turned around to watch the action in the bar behind him. At one table was a couple having a loud argument over some form of infidelity. Behind them was a couple making out. Beside them was a group of good looking women, one of which was giving Buck the stare-down. He closed his eyes briefly and then looked away.

'Careful, Buck,' he thought to himself. 'Hmm, what I could do to that, though.'

He continued his survey of the bar when suddenly he noticed the woman walking his way. In frustration he rolled his eyes as he turned back to the counter.

'Don't come over here.'

She stepped right up to his chair and placed her empty glass on the bar. "Hi," she said cheerfully.

He glanced up briefly and smiled. "How ya doing?" he replied nonchalantly, before looking away.

"My glass is empty," she hinted.

He glanced at the empty glass, then nodded. "Yep, it sure is."

"Aren't you going to do something about it?"

He put his hand in the air to get the bartender's attention. "Hey, she needs a drink," he hollered.

The woman smiled broadly as the bartender took her glass. She watched intently as he refilled the mixed drink. In the meantime, Buck quietly picked up his glass and moved down the bar to the other side of a male customer. The bartender set the glass down in front of the woman.

"That'll be fifteen credits."

She turned to face Buck, or where he had been sitting. When she realized he was no longer there, she quickly swiveled her head around to locate where he had moved to. When she found him, she gave him a dirty look. Buck simply shrugged his shoulders and looked away. Furious, she slammed the credit chips down on the bar, grabbed her glass (spilling half of it on the counter!), and returned to her group of friends. The man beside him chuckled out loud.

"You sure pissed her off!"

Buck smiled and winked at him. "How ya doing? Buy you a drink?"

The man's smile immediately disappeared. He grabbed his glass and quickly slid down the bar several seats. Buck shrugged, turned away. "I guess not."

Buck nursed his drink for a few minutes before he sensed someone else coming up behind him. Quickly he turned.

"Look, I'm flattered, but I'm not-"

Angstrom Bacote backed up a couple steps, put his hands in the air. Buck quickly put down his drink. "Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you were, uh, never mind."

Bacote smiled as he sat in the chair beside Buck. "Yeah, I saw. Some women can be so pushy, can't they?"

Buck cast a quick glance out the corner of his eye to the table of women. She was still watching him, albeit with disdain now. He smiled as he moved his eyes back to the young man sitting beside him.

"Yeah, they can. Sometimes they just don't understand."

Bacote gently placed his hand on top of Buck's. "Can I buy you a drink?"

With every ounce of willpower he had, Buck resisted the urge to flinch at the touch. Instead of flinching, he smirked and nodded. "Sure."

Bacote nodded to the bartender. "Another drink for my friend. Put it on my tab." He turned to Buck. "I'm in the corner seat. Come on over when you get your refill."

Buck nodded and watched him move away. He took a quick, deep breath before turning back to the bartender. When the bartender came over with the drink, Buck quickly made eye contact.

"Any suggestions?"  
The bartender glanced over at Bacote. "Don't piss him off."

"Thanks," Buck muttered sarcastically as he picked up his second drink. He carried both glasses over to the corner table where he sat down opposite Bacote.

"You're new around here," Bacote started.

Buck nodded. "Yeah. I get around a lot."

"Where are you from?"  
"Not really sure," he shrugged. "We moved around a lot when I was young. That's probably why I don't stay in one place too long now."

"I can understand that." He extended his hand to shake. "Name's Bacote. Angstrom Bacote."

Buck shook his hand firmly. "Morgan. Captain Jack Morgan."

"Well, Captain Morgan. What are you a captain of?"

"Just call me Jack. I used to captain a ship of… well let's just say I used to captain a ship."

"Fair enough. What brings you to my humble planet of Therion Two?"

"I'm currently in between jobs."

"Are you here looking for business… or pleasure?"  
Buck smirked. "A little of both, if I can swing it."

"So what's your business?"

Buck looked around the bar cautiously. "I'm a mercenary," he replied in a hushed tone of voice.

Bacote placed his elbows on the table and leaned forward. "I am too," he answered in the same tone.

"Really?"

Bacote nodded. "You ever hear of the Freedom from Tyranny?"

Buck pretended to think for a moment. "Yeah, I think so. You guys just raided a supply ship from Earth's shipping lines not too long ago, didn't you?"

Bacote smiled, raised his glass in a toast. "You get around, don't you?"  
"I try to."  
He took a long drink, the whole time never moving his eyes from Buck's. Finally he placed the cup back on the table. "What outfit are you with?"

"I'm solitaire," Buck replied.

"What kind of mercenary work do you do?"

Once again Buck looked around the room. "I specialize in assassinations."

Bacote's face appeared surprised. "Really? Fascinating. Anyone I've heard of?"

Buck leaned forward and whispered. "Emperor Draco."

Bacote choked on the drink he had just taken. Quickly he dropped the glass to the table. "Draco?" he whispered loudly in amazement.

"Keep your voice down!" Buck whispered, moving his hands down.

"But I thought Draco was killed when his superfortress was ambushed by some ancient super weapon!"

Buck took a quick drink, shook his head. "That's just the cover story they gave." He leaned forward again. "What do you think would happen if it became public knowledge that the Emperor of the Draconian Empire was assassinated by an outsider?"

"Chaos!"

"Exactly," he nodded. "It would put doubt on all of their security measures. If they can't even protect the emperor, who could they protect? It would be open season on all the nobles and the ruling council. Whole worlds would rebel and they'd have a huge mess on their hands. Especially if they found out that I was hired by the Princess Ardala herself."

Bacote nodded with wide eyes. "Wow," he breathed. "But how is it I've never heard your name before? I thought I was pretty up to date on the mercenaries around here."

"First of all, this is my first time around here," Buck explained. "I spend most of my time deep inside Draconian space. Second of all, my job is not one where notoriety is coveted. If people know my name, then I'm not doing my job very well. They know my work. That's all the satisfaction and notoriety I need."

"So are you here to meet anyone in particular?"

"Actually, I am. I heard there's a weapon dealer who sometimes works out of this area."

"Weapon dealer? Are you in the market for new weapons?"

Buck smirked out of one corner of his mouth as he leaned back. "I'm always in the market for new weapons. As fast as the market moves and technology changes, I'm always looking for the newest and the most nnovative."

"Of course."

"Hey, you know the neighborhood around here pretty well. Maybe you can help me. You probably know the guy."

"Who?"

Buck thought for a moment. "Alien guy, walks with a limp. Goes by the name-"

"Lawanna."

Buck snapped his fingers. "That's him! You do know him!"

Bacote nodded. "Yeah. We used to use him quite a bit, but I found someone much better!"

"Really?"

"Yeah. Guy by the name of Bettino. In fact, me and the crew are meeting him tomorrow afternoon. You want to come with us? I can introduce you to him."

"Is he any good? I mean his wares?"

"The demonstration he gave us last week was very impressive. We haven't actually used his wares yet. But we were so impressed last week that we ordered a bunch of weapons. Not just the small stuff, mind you. The big ones!"

"Well, in my line I don't need the big weapons of mass destruction. Does he have anything for a sniper assassinator?"

Bacote grinned. "He's got everything. And if he doesn't have it, he can get it. At least, that's what he told us. Apparently he's got a big-time maker backing him."

Buck furrowed his eyes. "Who?"

"Don't know!" he shrugged. "I don't really care, as long as what we get works! So what do you say? Wanna come with us tomorrow?"

Buck downed what was left of his second glass. He nodded as he slammed the glass on the table upside down. "I'd love to!"

"Great! What do you say we go back to my place?"

Buck forced a grin to cross his face. "Maybe later. I'm not done drinking, yet."  
Bacote's grin grew into a full fledged laugh. "I like you! Bartender!" he yelled. "More drinks! In fact: bring the bottle!"  
Buck turned in his seat. "Bring a couple bottles!"

Bacote nodded in approval. "Nice!"

Buck leaned back in his chair. "I plan to be here for a while!"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Buck staggered into the hotel room and collapsed onto the bed. He closed his eyes in the hopes that the room would stop spinning. It didn't help.

"Beep-be-de-de-beep: Did you make contact?"

"Don't start on me, Twiki," he replied without even opening his eyes.

"Beep-be-de-de-beep: heh, heh, heh."

"Were you able to extract any information from Angstrom Bacote?" asked the small circular computer hanging from Twiki's neck.

Slowly Buck sat up. "Yeah, I did, Theo."

"Excellent."

"Beep-be-de-de-beep: we had faith in you, Buck."

It took a few seconds to focus on the ambuquad. Buck could have sworn he saw it smile. "Thanks," he finally answered hollowly.

"So what were you able to ascertain?"

Buck took a deep breath. "Wilma was right. They have put in a big order for some large weapons. The drop is taking place tomorrow afternoon." He glanced at his watch. "Uh, make that later today. Holy cow, is it that late?"

"Captain Rogers, I have a question. Did you take the alcohol suppressant that I gave you?"

"I sure did," he muttered.

"Maybe you got a defective batch. It was supposed to prevent you from getting inebriated. My sensors detect a high alcohol content in your breath."

Buck lay back down. "Oh, believe me. It's working. I just don't think anything could suppress how much we had to drink tonight."

"Beep-be-de-de-beep: how much did you have?"

"I don't know, I lost count. That Bacote can drink like a fish."

"Fish don't drink," Theo corrected.

Buck simply grinned. "No, he's a fish. He took the bait hook, line, and sinker."

"I am unfamiliar with that phrase. What does that mean?"

"It means he bought my story. In fact, he invited me to the drop so I can meet this weapon dealer, a guy named Bettino. Ever hear of him?"

"Yes," Theo replied. "He is a well-known arms dealer. We have never been able to apprehend him. The interstellar authorities came close a week ago on Harper Five, but Bettino is quite elusive. He killed three officers before getting away. I suggest we call for the authorities to take charge of this operation."

Buck sat up again. "No. If he smells anything fishy, he'll split and we may never get this close again. I say we proceed as planned."

"But it may be dangerous."

"Danger's my middle name."

"Beep-be-de-de-beep: I thought it was Anthony."

"Shut up, Twiki!" he grinned.

"So where is Angstrom Bacote right now?"  
"I gave him my contact information before he finally passed out in the bar. The bartender said he'd take him home. I have never met anyone who could hold his liquor like he can. Holy cow. He downed two and a half bottles himself before he even left to go to the bathroom!"

"Did you manage to introduce the tracer into his drink?" Theo asked.

Buck nodded. "When he finally did go to the bathroom, I dropped it in his bottle. He'll show up on your monitor for the next two days at least."

"Excellent. Would you like to contact the Defense Directorate yourself or shall I?" Theo asked.

Buck lay down and closed his eyes. "Why don't you do it, Theo. I really need to get some rest before Bacote calls."

He heard Doctor Theopolis begin to say something else, but everything simply faded into darkness.

Buck felt two cold hands on his arm. They were shaking him rather roughly. Hesitantly he opened his eyes and stared straight into Twiki's face. He moved his free hand to rub his eyes and forehead.

"Not now, Twiki. I just got to sleep."

"Beep-be-de-de-beep: Buck, it's been eight hours."

"What?"

"And the phone is ringing."

Buck lifted his head off the pillow propped himself onto one elbow. Sure enough, the communicator on the nightstand was ringing. Instantly he was awake. He swung his legs off the bed and grabbed the headset.

"Hello."

"Jack! This is Ang! Are you awake?"  
"I am now."

Buck heard Bacote laughing on the other end. "This is your wake up call. Meet me at the bar in thirty minutes."

Buck glanced at his watch. "But you said the drop was at sixteen hundred. It's only noon."

"It's gonna take a while to get there. We're not exactly meeting at the bar."

Buck nodded in understanding. "Right. Okay, I'll be there."

He terminated the connection and replaced the headset. He turned to face Twiki and Theopolis.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Theo asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Did you manage to get a hold of Doctor Huer?"

"He wasn't in the office, but I left a message. However, even if I had, it's too short a notice for the Directorate to do anything. We are basically on our own."

"I understand," he nodded.

"How do you plan to convince a seasoned arms dealer like Bettino?" Theo questioned. "A small-time mercenary like Angstrom Bacote is easy to fool. Bettino will not be so easily coerced."

"Yeah, I was thinking about that." He glanced at his watch again. "I've got four hours to figure that part out."

Suddenly his eyes widened and a smile began to form on his lips. He looked at his watch again.

"Beep-be-de-de-beep: uh-oh, Buck's got an idea."

"Oh, you're going to love this!" he said, tapping the watch.

"Beep-be-de-de-beep: you wouldn't!"

"I don't understand what you two are talking about," Theo complained.

Buck held up his hand to silence them. He tapped a button on the side of the watch and waited a moment for the crystals inside to reconfigure into a blank screen and then a numbered keyboard. He typed in the correct code. The watch face turned blank for half a minute. Finally the face of a beautiful woman appeared on the face of the watch. She smiled broadly.

"Buck, darling! I knew this was going to be a good day! My astrologist said so!"

"What? You have an astrologist?"

"But of course! All Draconian leaders have used them for millennia. So Buck, darling, when are you coming to see me again?"

"Soon," he reassured.

"Promise?"

He nodded. "I promise. So when's your coronation?"

"In a couple weeks. Are you still coming?"

"Wouldn't miss it. But first, I have a huge favor to ask you."

"Of course. You know me Buck. I'd do anything for the love of my life and the future husband of the Empress."

"Right!" he said cheerfully and sarcastically at the same time. He hoped she didn't notice. "Anyway, I'm in the middle of a job here and I need your help."

"You've got it, Darling. I'll have my superfortress prepped and ready to fly in twenty minutes."

"No, no, no. I don't need anything like that."

"Then what do you need from me? You know what I need!" she said slyly.

He grinned as his mind wandered for only a moment. "In about four hours I'm going to call you again. I want you to call me Captain Jack Morgan."

"Captain Jack Morgan?"

"Yeah, you want to write it down?"

"No, I'll remember it. Buck, what's going on?"  
"Long story short there's a group here who's trying to buy some weapons to possibly destroy one of our cities. I'm just trying to stop the transfer of the weapons."

"I see. Alright, Captain Jack Morgan. Anything else?"  
"Yeah. To get this guy's trust, I'm telling him that I'm an assassin. In fact, I'm the assassin you hired to kill Emperor Draco."

Her eyes widened. "But I killed my father by accident!"

"I know that and you know that, but they don't. I'm going to tell him that in reality, you hired me to kill him so you could take the throne and fix the problems he was beginning to cause."

"You are asking me to step down a slippery slope here, Buck. If I admit to this and it gets out, my sisters could use this against me."

"Don't worry, Princess. No one here will ever have a chance to let this information leak to the press or to anyone else. As soon as I get everyone together with the weapons, we're going to apprehend them all and lock them away for a very long time. And besides, if it _did_ get out, your standing would probably be elevated in the eyes of the nobles and the ruling council."

"That's true. You said we? Is your boorish friend Colonel Deering there?"

Buck grinned slightly. "Why, are you jealous?"

She flicked her hair out of her face. "Maybe!"

Buck chuckled. "No, I'm here with Twiki and Doctor Theopolis."

Ardala furrowed her brows. "Is that all? This sounds like a dangerous mission. Are you sure you can handle it by yourself?"

"Now you're starting to sound like Theo. He said the exact same thing."

"Doctor Theopolis is very intelligent. He is looking out for his interests."

"And so are you!"

"True. I won't lie about that. You know how I feel about you."

"Don't worry, Ardala. I'll be just fine. Just remember to call me Jack Morgan."

"I won't forget. So when will I see you again? I need my fill of Jack Morgan, if you know what I mean!"

Buck smirked slightly. "If you only knew," he muttered.

"Excuse me?"

He shook his head. "Nothing. I'll see you soon, I promise. I'll bring some Captain Morgan and we can have some shots together."

"I'm quivering with anticipation."

"Later, Princess. I'll call you again in about four hours. And when I call, pretend to be mad."

Buck disconnected the transmission before Ardala could answer again. He glanced at Twiki who was staring at him.

"What?"

"Beep-be-de-de-beep: You're going to fill her up with your Jack Morgan?"

Buck closed his eyes and shook his head. "Twiki, you're nasty."

"Beep-be-de-de-beep: heh, heh, heh. I learned from the best."

Buck grabbed his duffel bag and grabbed some clean clothes. "I'm gonna take a shower. Between this and last night, I suddenly feel very dirty."

He grabbed his clothes and disappeared into the bathroom.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Bacote was already at the bar by the time Buck got there. He checked his watch to make sure he wasn't late. He wasn't.

"Good timing, Jack. I love a man who comes on time."

'I bet you do,' was how Buck wanted to answer. Instead he accepted Bacote's hand and shook it firmly. "Part of my job is being punctual."

"Of course. My transport's out front. Are you ready?"

Buck nodded. "I was born ready."

Bacote laughed. He then led Buck out of the bar and to the waiting transport. They flew out of the city and over farmlands, rivers, and forests toward the looming mountains in the distant horizon. After about three hours they reached a large outcropping of rock on one of the mountainsides. Buck noticed three small transports already parked at one end of the rock formation and five people milling around the middle car. Bacote parked beside one of the smaller transports. When they were safely on the ground, they left the car. Two women and three men slowly approached.

"Angstrom, who's he?" one of the women asked as her hand gently rested on the handle of her holstered pistol.

"Calm down," Bacote said calmly. "This is Captain Jack Morgan. I met him last night. He's another mercenary looking for supplies. He's an assassin."

"Another one of your questionable associates?"

He grinned. "Don't worry. His story checks out. Jack, I'd like to introduce my partners in crime. The cautious one is Danielle Andrade. She's my second in command. And then there's the company accountant Janine Hazen. Over there is our master of intelligence Nikolas Mahalik, Quintin Penley, our strategist, and finally the enforcer Sidney Pryor. Altogether we are the Freedom from Tyranny."

One by one they saluted Buck and then shook his hand. "How closely did you check him out last night?" Andrade asked.

Bacote grinned smugly. "Not as closely as I wanted! I just had his fingerprints run through the interstellar database."

Buck furrowed his eyebrows. "You did? When?"

Bacote smiled. "The bartender also works for me. I had him check out your story while we drank. And speaking of which, how do you feel? I've never met a man who can drink me under the table like you."

"I've been better," Buck muttered.

Once again Bacote laughed. "Anyway, his prints came back completely blank, but everything we talked about last night checked out."

"Everything?"

"Former clients, hits, targets. Everything turned up exactly as he said." He looked at the somewhat surprised look on Buck's face. "Oh, I have my ways. Why do you think I had you sit at my corner table? That table is implanted with sensors to detect anything from tracers, communicators, wires, and anything else a plant might use."

"Impressive."

"What do you mean his prints came up blank?" Andrade continued the debate.

"That's a classic assassin trick," Mahalik commented. "As an assassin, you don't want your prints or any other forensic evidence showing up after a hit."

Buck nodded in his direction. Mahalik nodded back.

"I used to be an assassin myself. I got out of the business before it got me."

"Depending on who you talk to, once you're in the business, you're never out of the business," Buck countered.

Mahalik smiled. "So true."

Just then a loud crash like thunder sounded and a small speck appeared in the distant sky. The speck quickly grew until they all recognized the form of a spaceship. It quickly descended and landed on the other side of the rock formation. Several minutes passed before a man exited the spaceship and headed in their direction. Bacote and his group of mercenaries (including Buck) moved forward and met him in the middle.

"Mister Bettino. Glad to see you again," Bacote started.

He stopped and pointed at Buck. "Who's he?"

Bacote put his hand on Buck's shoulder. "This is a new acquaintance of mine. He's also in the market for new merchandise."

Bettino immediately drew his gun and trained it on Buck, who didn't flinch. "I don't like surprises, Bacote. And this constitutes a surprise."

"Don't worry. I checked him out last night."

"I bet you did."

Buck confidently took one step forward. "I'm Captain Jack Morgan, assassin for hire."

Bettino shook his head. "Never heard of you."

Buck smiled. "I know. That's exactly the way I like it."

"Then how do I corroborate your proper identity?"

"I can vouch for him," Bacote offered.

"Not good enough. I have half a mind to turn around and take my shipment with me if I don't get proof of who he is."

Buck held up his left arm so Bettino could get a good look at his watch. "I can prove who I am without a shadow of a doubt."

Bettino hesitated for a moment. "How are you going to do that?"  
Buck smiled. "I'm sure you've heard about the untimely death of Emperor Draco of the Draconian Empire."

"Yeah. He was caught in the line of fire of some ancient super weapon."

Buck simply shook his head. "That's just the cover story."

"So how do you plan on convincing me?"

He pointed to his watch. "This was given to me by the heir to the throne, Princess Ardala. She is the one who hired me to kill him so she could take over."

"All I see is a fancy watch. I don't see any proof."

Buck nodded. "Okay. Just hang on a minute." He fumbled with the watch until Princess Ardala's face appeared on the screen. Buck kneeled to one knee.

"Captain Morgan," she said roughly. "Is your job complete yet?"

"Not exactly. I've run into a slight snag."

"I do not care about your snags. When I hire someone, all I care about are results."

"Yes, Empress, I understand. But at the current minute, there is a man by the name of Bettino who is holding a gun on me. He demands corroboration of my story."

She sighed impatiently. "Let me talk to this Bettino."

Buck quickly removed the watch from his wrist and handed it to Bettino. "She wants to talk to you."

Hesitantly Bettino accepted the watch. His eyes widened when he saw the visage of Princess Ardala.

"Are you the man who is holding my subordinate hostage?" Ardala demanded.

Quickly Bettino lowered his pistol and placed it back in its holster. "Not anymore, I'm not."

"Good. Now I trust you know who I am, what I'm capable of, and how much power and reach I have."  
"Yes, of course. I just didn't believe Captain Morgan here when he said that you hired him to kill your father. Did you really do that?"

"You insolent fool!" she screamed. "Do you know whom you are addressing? I don't have to answer to you! Obviously Captain Morgan has direct access to me. Do you think I would give anyone that?"

"No, of course not. I am sorry, Princess."

"You will address me as Empress!" she yelled.

"Yes, Empress. I-"

"You will accommodate Captain Morgan or you will be terminated. And trust me, there is nowhere in this galaxy you can go that is out of my jurisdiction. This conversation is over! Give me back to Captain Morgan."

Quickly he handed the watch back to Buck, who was still kneeling. "Yes, Empress?"

"If this man gives you any more trouble, kill him. I trust, however, he will trouble you no more. I must return to my duties."

The screen went blank. Buck fastened the watch back to his wrist. "I am sorry," Buck apologized. "She gets cranky sometimes."

Bettino nodded. "Yeah, I noticed. My apologies, Captain Morgan. You understand I had to corroborate your story?"

"Yeah, I know. I try not to contact the Empress unless I have to, for obvious reasons!" he said smiling.

"Yes. Well then, shall we get down to business?"

Bacote stepped up and grabbed Buck's wrist. "How come my sensors didn't pick up on this?"

Buck smiled. "Draconian technology. It's only a subspace communicator when it's actively being used. Any other time it appears like a normal watch to any sensor."

"Can we do business now?" Bettino asked impatiently. "I've got other places I need to be before the day's over."

Bacote nodded. "Yeah, sorry."

Bettino clapped his hands and three men appeared in the doorway to his ship. They began hauling crates down the ramp. The crates were unloaded into the center of the clearing where Bacote and his subordinates inspected and cataloged the shipment. In the meantime, Bettino unloaded his display weapons and began showing them to Buck.

"Now you understand I normally sell these in bulk." He pointed toward Buck's watch. "However, since you have some extenuating circumstances, I will be willing to sell you whatever you want right now, as long as you don't mind them being slightly used."

"How slightly used?"

"Oh, just by me, of course. Now this one is a very nice weapon. It's kind of old fashioned in that it shoots a projectile instead of…"

Buck picked up one of the guns and smiled. He tossed it up slightly, then twirled it like a marine, then quickly grabbed it and pretended to shoot an invisible target on the other side of the valley. Bettino smiled broadly.

"Wow, you really are good with that."

Buck shrugged. "When you use them as often as I do, they become an extension of your arm."

"Of course! Well that one there is one of my finest. In fact, that's only been fired about eight times. That's one of my newest acquisitions. It's refined on a remote planet in the epsilon sector. It will fire-"

"It fires projectile and energy beams, both continuous and burst, with equal accuracy," Buck interrupted. "The projectile chamber looks like a fifty caliber?"

Bettino nodded in approval. "Exactly. It will fire any fifty caliber bullet you can find-"

"Or make."

"You make your own-? Of course you do; you're a professional."

"Do you have anything to load it with?"

Bettino reached into a box and handed Buck a small case. Buck grabbed four bullets and loaded the gun. He then grabbed an energy pack and inserted it into the proper slot. He then aimed the gun at a tree on the other side of the valley. Without even steadying the gun, he shot all four shots rapidly, and then quickly switched to the laser chamber and fired the laser on burst and then on continuous. When he was done, he twirled the gun and handed it back to Bettino, handle first.

"Impressive! So, do you like it?"  
"I do," Buck admitted. "How much does it normally go for?"

Bettino winced slightly. "Normally I sell it for three thousand credits. But since you have your connections, I'd be willing to cut the price to eighteen hundred."

Buck extended his hand. "I accept."

Bettino quickly shook his hand, and then reached into his jacket for his electronic fund transfer. Buck shook his head.

"I'm sorry, but that won't work for me."

"Why not?"

Buck smirked. "I don't have any fingerprints."  
Bettino nodded. "Of course. So what do you propose?"

"If you give me a couple hours, I can have the cash."

Bettino winced. "The only problem with that is I'm scheduled to be on Tenebris in two hours. I have another demonstration."

"Alright. When do you have some free time? I can meet you whenever, wherever"

Bettino pulled out another electronic device to check his schedule. "I can meet you on Krypteria in two days."

Buck pretended to think for a moment, before nodding. "That works for me. I'll meet you there."

"I'll be at the-"

Buck raised his hand to silence him. "I'll find you. Afterall, part of my job is to find people who don't normally want to be found."

"Right," Bettino nodded. "Do you want to take the gun with you now, as a gesture of good faith?"

"Sure. And I'll take a couple of those rounds, too."

He reached into the crate and handed Buck three cases of projectile bullets and three energy packs. He then packed up the rest of his wares and loaded them back onto the ship while Buck loaded his newly acquired rifle. Finally they returned to Bacote and his crew.

"So, is everything there?" he asked.

Bacote nodded. "Exactly as you said it would be."

Buck pulled out a bottle of wine from his jacket. "I propose a toast to conclude our business deal."

Bettino shook his head. "I don't-"

"I _always_ share my wine with my business partners," Buck interrupted.

Bettino nodded slowly as he rethought his response. "I'd love to."

Buck pulled the cork and took a swig. He then handed the bottle to Bettino who cautiously tasted the wine. A big smile crossed his face as he took another swig.

"That's good stuff!"

"It should be," Buck grinned. "I made it myself."

"What _don't _you do by yourself?"

Buck simply grinned. "I'll see you on Krypteria in two days."

Bettino almost burst out laughing as he stepped onto his ship. Within minutes, he was gone. Bacote slapped Buck on the shoulder.

"Didn't I tell you he was good?"  
"You sure did."

Buck reached into his jacket and pulled out a pair of dark glasses and another small object. With one swift motion, he donned the glasses with one hand and dropped the black-light bomb with the other. Through the glasses he could easily see the members of the mercenary group as he picked them off one by one. By the time the black-light bomb dissipated, every single member of the mercenary group lay unconscious on the rock formation. Suddenly Buck swore to himself.

"I should have waited until they loaded the weapons. Now I have to load them and the bodies."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The sun had long since set before Buck finally made it back to the hotel room where Twiki and Theopolis were impatiently waiting.

"Beep-be-de-de-beep: You're late, Buck."

"Sorry, guys. Things didn't exactly go as planned."

"What happened, Captain Rogers?"  
"I'll tell you in a few minutes. Twiki, I need your help. Come with me."

Buck led Twiki to the transport. Inside were the still unconscious bodies of the mercenaries and all the weapons confiscated from the botched deal.

"Beep-be-de-de-beep: That's a good day's work."

"I need your help getting everything into the room."

"Beep-be-de-de-beep: why me?"

"Because Theo doesn't have any legs. Now let's hurry up before someone sees."

One by one Buck and Twiki carried/dragged the mercenaries through the back entrance of the hotel and into the room, followed by the weapons. When they were done, Buck quickly closed and locked the door.

"Beep-be-de-de-beep: I wasn't cut out for this kind of work."

Theopolis surveyed the bodies in the room from his vantage point on the table. "So which one is Bettino?" he asked.

Buck grimaced slightly. "None of them. He got away."

"Oh, dear."

"Yeah, tell me about it. Theo, can you get me a secure channel to Doctor Huer?"

Buck sat down in the nearest chair.

"Channel open," Theo announced almost before Buck sat down.

Buck glanced up surprised. "Huh? Already?"

"I've been anticipating your return for several hours. Doctor Huer and I have been in near constant communication for the past two hours."

"Buck! Are you alright?" Huer's voice sounded from Theo's speakers.  
"Yes, Doc. I'm just fine."

"Were you successful in apprehending the Freedom from Tyranny and the cache of weapons?"

Buck paused for a moment. "Doc, I got some good news and some bad news. Which one do you want first?"  
"Oh, dear. This doesn't sound good. I believe I'll hear the good news first."

"The good news is I was able to apprehend all the members of the terrorist group. I was also able to confiscate all their weapons."

"Excellent work, Buck. But what's the bad news?"

Buck took a deep breath. "Actually the bad news has a couple parts. The biggest part is Bettino got away."

"That is unfortunate," Huer admitted, "But acceptable. Your mission parameters have been met. You can return home immediately. I've already sent a shuttle to pick up the terrorist members and the weapons. It should be there in a few hours. There's no need for you to be there when it gets there. Where are the mercenaries now?"

"They're in my hotel room, and the weapons are too. I don't want to disagree with you, Doc, but the mission's not over yet."

"What do you mean?"  
"We need to go after Bettino."  
"Yes, we will, but that is a job for another day. Your job there is done. You have apprehended the terrorist group. That is a good day's work."

Buck shook his head, even though he knew Huer couldn't see him. "No, you don't understand. These guys are just small fish. We need to go after the big ones."

"If I understand your analogy correctly, I realize your desire to continue in this endeavor, but we've got a file on Pep Bettino. He's not a major threat to security."

"Doc, he just sold weapons to a group wanting to blow up New Phoenix! How can you say he's not a threat?"

"Granted he is dangerous and elusive in his own rights, but he does not pose an imminent threat to the security of the planet Earth."

"Are you kidding me?" Buck asked, throwing up his hands in disgust. "He sells his weapons to anyone willing to buy them, as long as they have the money. We were able to catch this shipment before it could be used against Earth. What if we don't catch the next one? Yeah, we were able to neutralize the Freedom from Tyranny, but I guarantee you that within two weeks, someone else will pop up willing to finish what they started."

"But you said it yourself, Buck. Bettino got away. Pep Bettino is a very elusive target. There's no telling where he will be or when. Every time we have sent agents after him, he's always gotten the drop on us. I can not allow you to go off searching for him."

"I don't have to go searching for him."

"What do you mean?"

Buck hesitated for the longest moment. "I know exactly where he'll be."

This time it was Doctor Huer who hesitated. "I'm almost afraid to ask how you know that piece of information."

Buck nodded. "I, uh, may have, uh, bought something from him."

Once again the receiver remained quiet for a long moment. "What have you done, Buck?"

"Remember when I told you my bad news had a couple parts? Well, here's the second part. I kind of bought a weapon from him."

"You did what?"  
"I convinced him I was an assassin and I bought a gun from him."

"How did you do that?"  
"I may have involved Princess Ardala to corroborate a story for me."

Buck could just imagine Doctor Huer leaning back in his chair and grasping his chest. "And did she?" he asked after a long moment's pause of silence.  
"Yes; quite convincingly too. But I told him I couldn't pay the normal way through fingerprint identification since I didn't have any fingerprints. That's normal for an assassin. I said I could get the cash in a couple hours, but he couldn't wait that long. So we arranged to meet on Krypteria in two days."

"Oh, dear. Of all the places to meet."

"Why, what's wrong with Krypteria?"

"Krypteria is a lawless planet with no morals whatsoever. Every lowlife in the galaxy wishes he could get to Krypteria. And what's worse, the Earth Alliance has no jurisdiction or any influence there. We don't even have diplomatic ties. I can not allow you to go there."

"I have to, Doc. I've already taken the gun and some ammo. In fact that's what I used to apprehend these guys lying in my room right now."

"He allowed you to take possession of the gun without paying for it?"

"Yeah, I think Empress Ardala may have scared him a little. He gave me a real good discount price on it too."

"Captain Rogers! We're not talking about buying cheap souvenirs from a resort world! You have exceeded your authority in purchasing weapons from an arms dealer on the inter-planetary most wanted list!"

Buck shrugged. "It seemed like a good idea at the time. Hey, I was by myself, undercover as an assassin. I didn't exactly have time to check in and get permission. My original plan was to take in Bettino at the same time as the rest of the Tyranny group here. However, he wasn't alone. He had at least three guys with him, and I had a bad feeling that he had more that I couldn't see hiding out on his ship somewhere. I figured I had my hands full just taking out the six mercenaries I did. I figured my odds of taking out at _least_ four more were simply not in my favor."

"Yes, of course. Even if I order you not to go to Krypteria, you're going to go anyway. Isn't that right, Buck?"

"I have to, Doc. I have a gun I haven't paid for yet. If I don't show up on Krypteria, he'll come looking for me. What kind of odds do you put on him being able to find me?"

"I estimate an eighty-three percent chance he will be able to track you down," interrupted Theo.

"There you go, Doc. I have to go."

"But you have no way of finding him once you do get there. Krypteria is a very large world."

Buck grinned. "You're wrong on that. I know exactly where he will be."

"Did he tell you where to meet him?"

"Nope. I had him drink some wine."

"I don't understand."  
"The wine was spiked with the liquid tracer Theo gave me for Bacote. As soon as he's within a thousand kilometer radius, Theo will be able to track him."

Doctor Huer breathed heavily into the transmitter. "I don't like this, Buck. I don't like it at all. I don't like the idea of sending you to Krypteria alone."

"I'm not alone. I've got Twiki and Theo here."

"Beep-be-de-de-beep: I got your back, Buck."

"I would prefer to send you full tactical backup."

"If you send that many people, all they would do is blow my cover. Uh, Doctor Huer, uh, I do have one more piece of bad news for you."

"I don't like the sound of this."

Buck hesitated. "If you could send me some money, enough to pay for the gun I bought, that'd be great."

"I can make a wire transfer to you and have it waiting for you when you reach Krypteria. How much do you need?"

"Eighteen hundred."

"Good heavens! Eighteen hundred credits?" Huer asked incredulously.  
"It's a really good gun," Buck prodded.

"I can't wire that much money!"

"Maybe you can have Wilma bring it and meet me there."

"Colonel Deering is currently on Harper Five doing some impromptu training of Alliance cadets. She'll be incapacitated for the remainder of this mission. But I suppose I could find someone to bring you that money. Perhaps Major Danton will be available."

"Duke? That'd be great!"

"Buck, I have to ask you a question. If you are going to apprehend Pep Bettino on Krypteria, why do you need the money?"

"It's not Bettino I'm after. He's just the middle man. I'm aiming for the guy above him. I want the weapons maker, not just the dealer."

"Who is that?"  
"I have no idea, but Bettino is going to tell me. All I know is that the gun I bought was refined on a planet somewhere in the Epsilon sector. Does that mean anything to you?"  
"Not a thing. But I'll do my best to research it. Do you have any more bad news for me, Buck?"

"Not that I know of. Well, I'm gonna take a quick shower and get packed for Krypteria."

"Buck; just promise me one thing."

"What's that?"  
"Do be careful. I don't like your plan or what you're doing, but there's nothing I can do to stop you. And I'm sure you've already talked Doctor Theopolis into believing in your plan."

"Actually, we haven't discussed it, but I believe it is the proper course of action," Theopolis said.

"Just be careful, Buck. I've become rather fond of you. In fact, sometimes I think of you as my own son."

"Doc, you don't have to-"

"Just be careful. I'd really hate to lose you."  
Buck nodded once. "Yeah, I'd hate to lose me too. Don't worry, Doc. I'll be okay. What can go wrong? I've got the best backup in the world!"

"Beep-be-de-de-beep: You got that right, Mister."

"Just remember that Pep Bettino is a very dangerous man. Quite possibly the most dangerous man you've ever faced."

"Yeah, but he's still just a middle man. Somebody's behind him pulling the strings."

"I know. That's what worries me. If Bettino is this dangerous, how much more dangerous is the man he answers to?"  
Buck nodded once. "Yeah, I know. I'd already thought about that. Don't worry, I'll be alright."

"I'll let you go, Buck. I just hope you know what you're doing."  
Theo disconnected the transmission as Buck leaned his head back into the chair. "So do I," he muttered almost to himself. "So do I."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Buck tossed his bag onto the bed. "Well, we're here. Krypteria."

"How do you know this is the place to find Pep Bettino?" Theo asked.  
"This is the closest hotel/bar to the space port. Just call it a hunch. Too bad the money wasn't here waiting for us. I guess I'm gonna have to wing it until Duke shows up. Anything on your sensors yet, Theo?"

"Not yet."

Buck nodded. "I guess it is a little early. Well, what do you say we go downstairs to the bar and mingle for awhile?"

"Beep-be-de-de-beep: Can you buy me a gun, too?"

"Twiki, now really," Theo scolded. "Just what do you think you would do with a gun?"

"Beep-be-de-de-beep: Everybody else on this planet is packing."

Buck grinned. "I'm sorry, Twiki. I don't think Doctor Huer would appreciate it if I bought you a gun. He nearly bit my head off for buying myself a gun."

"Beep-be-de-de-beep: Nuts."

"Come on. Let's do a little reconnaissance before Bettino gets here."

They stepped into the hall and Buck turned to make sure the door was locked.

(break in scene)

The tall, slender figure turned his head to look down at the smaller, younger woman. "How do you know Bettino is going to be here?"

The beautiful woman stopped and turned to face the masked man. "Because this is the place for criminals like him to show up. He'll be here eventually. I've got friends who used to work here. They told me that he comes here at least a couple times a month."

"So how long are we going to wait for him here?" he asked in his slow, deep voice.

She hmmphed and turned to continue walking down the corridor. "As long as it takes. I will find him and I will kill him for what he did."

"I understand your reasons for finding him," the big man said. "But do you really have to kill him? There are better alternatives than-"

She whirled around. "He killed my parents and my sister! He's going to-"

Suddenly her eyes widened as her voice trailed into oblivion. She cocked her head to one side. She gripped the big man's arm and looked up. "There's someone here in the hotel I know!" she whispered.

"Who?"

She shook her head. "I don't know! But it's definitely someone I know… and I believe he's looking for Bettino too!"

"What do you want to do?"

She quickly pulled his arm. "Come on! He's this way! Nobody's going to get in the way of me getting my revenge!"

She quickly began to move down the hall. The big man hesitated for only a moment before he caught up to her with his long strides.

(break in scene)

"Buck, my sensors just picked up a blip. I believe Pep Bettino just entered orbit," Theo announced quietly as they walked through the halls of the hotel.

"Good. If all goes well, we'll have the information we need before the night's over."  
Twiki turned the corner. "Beep-be-de-de-beep: Buck!"

Buck quickly moved his left hand up just as he felt the cold barrel of a pistol impact his temple. His hand impacted and began to press into the Adam's apple of the smaller woman.

"What are you doing here?" she asked gruffly.

Buck racked his brain for a long minute before he finally recognized the woman. "Sharese?"

"Beep-be-de-de-beep: reach for the stars, lady!"

They both turned their heads just enough to see Twiki standing in the middle of the hall and holding Buck's pistol aimed at the woman. She pressed her gun into Buck's temple a little harder while Buck squeezed his grip on the woman's neck just a little tighter.

"How fast are you, little twerp?" she asked. "Do you think you can pull the trigger faster than I can?"

"The question is," Buck started. "Can you pull the trigger before I crush your windpipe?"  
All three of them stared at each other for several moments before two hands suddenly appeared through the wall. One hand grabbed Buck's while the other knocked the woman's pistol to the floor. She whirled to face the wall.

"Varek! What are you doing?" she hissed.

"This course of action is not going to help us find Bettino," he stated simply. "And I can't allow you to kill my friend."

She sighed heavily, then nodded and backed up. "Fine." She looked at Buck. "So who are you today? Are you Raphael Argus or Aaron Wist? Or is it Buck Rogers?"

Buck leaned over and picked up the woman's pistol. He spun it around and handed it back to her. "Actually it's Jack Morgan."

She shook her head. "You have more names than a Denebian Slime Lord. So what are you doing here looking for Pep Bettino?"

"How'd you know-? Oh, right. I forgot you're psychic. Wait, what are you doing here? Last I saw you, you were flying away from Earth as fast as you could after trying to blow up New Chicago."

She grabbed her pistol and holstered it. "Why do you care? Are you going to try to take me back?"

Buck shook his head. "Nope. I'm after Bettino."  
"So am I."

Buck turned to face the large man who had just finished stepping through the wall. He extended his hand to the big man. "Varek! It's good to see you again! What are you doing here with Sharese?"  
"We are partners," he explained as he shook Buck's hand. "It is good to see you again, my friend."

"I thought you were going back home?"

Varek nodded once. "I did. I didn't like it. I left again."

"Captain Rogers, we must apprehend Sharese," Theo said. "She is a member of the Legion of Doom. She tried to blow up New Chicago."

In an instant she had her pistol aimed at Theo. Buck quickly put his hand on the gun and lowered her arm. "No, Theo. We're here for Bettino."

"There is no Legion of Doom," Sharese stated. "It's dissolved. Everyone's either been killed or captured."

"Everyone but you," Theo argued.

"Look you bucket of bolts! New Chicago was Kellog's plan, not mine. I was just following orders. I'm not in the revenge business anymore. I'm my own boss and I've gone straight, more or less."

"What do you mean?" Buck asked.

"I don't have time to explain to you."

"Actually you do. Bettino won't be here for at least another hour."

"How do you know?"

Buck grinned. "Because I put a tracer in him. I know exactly where he is right now. He's just entered the atmosphere. He won't even be in the space port for another half hour."

"How'd you manage that?"  
"I'm good."

She stared at him for a moment. "I'll give you that. You did take down the Legion of Doom, after all."

"So what are you doing here? Why are you after Bettino?"

"If you must know, he killed my family during one of his 'demonstrations.' He murdered a complete city; the city my mother, father, and sister lived in. I'm here to kill him."

Buck took his weapon back from Twiki. "I thought you said you weren't in the revenge business anymore. Besides, that doesn't work for me. I need him alive."

"Then we're at an impasse."  
"Not necessarily," Varek said.

"Don't start that again," Sharese ordered.

"What do you have in mind?" Buck asked.

"A partnership," Varek offered.

"With him?" Sharese asked. "Never."

"Why not?" Buck asked. "We're both after the same man. If we team up, we won't be getting in each other's way."

"But we have a difference of opinion. I want to kill him and you don't."

Buck nodded. "I need him alive to get some information out of him."

"What kind of information?"

"I need to find out who his supplier is. He just sold some weapons that were intended to do some pretty hefty damage to Earth. I plan to find his supplier and put him out of business… permanently."

"What are you going to do with Bettino when you're done?"

"I'll make a deal with you. I get what I want from him first, and then you can do whatever you want to with him."

Buck extended his hand to shake. She sighed and thought about the offer.

"If we don't team up, we'll end up getting in each other's way and Bettino might get away. Then neither one of us gets anything and we'll have to start looking all over again."

She sighed again before shaking her head in disgust. Finally she raised her hand to shake Buck's. "Fine. But this is only temporary. Once we're through with Bettino, we each go our separate ways. I work alone."

"What about Varek?"

"He's different. We're partners."

"Right now so are we."

"Only temporarily."

Buck smirked and nodded. "Deal."

"Captain Rogers, I must express my dissatisfaction with this arrangement," Theo said. "There is no way we can trust this woman."

"Yeah, but she can't really trust me either," Buck replied. "It's the perfect partnership."

"Temporary partnership," Sharese corrected.

Buck grinned. "Exactly. What do you say we go to the bar to wait for Bettino and I can buy you a drink?"

"I don't drink. It only slows the reflexes."  
Buck smiled broadly. "Then you can buy me a drink. I'm thirsty."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Sharese sent Varek to the space port to look for Bettino and Twiki was denied access to the hotel bar, leaving Buck and Sharese sitting alone side by side in the booth. They picked a table where both had easy vision of the entrance. Buck rested his elbows on the table and turned to face Sharese.

"So how did you meet up with Varek?"

"What does it matter? It's not like we're going to be together that long."

Buck shrugged. "I'm just trying to have a conversation before Bettino gets here."

Sharese sipped her soda, leaned back. "After the fiasco in New Chicago, I went back home to Ballista. I knew the Directorate would be looking for me, so I just wanted to lay low for a while. Eventually I got bored and tried to contact some of my former associates. No one would even give me the time of day. They all said I was washed up. I think they all blamed me for the failure of the Legion of Doom. So I called the authorities and basically snitched them all out. Before I knew it, the League of Interstellar Mercenaries was pretty much defunct. The interstellar police were so impressed by my actions they pardoned all my past actions and endorsed me as a legitimate mercenary for hire. So I started doing jobs for legitimate purposes, and believe it or not I'm making more money now than I ever did with the Legion.

"Anyway, one day I was hired to protect the ambassador of Levine. He had received some death threats from a faction from Altair Four. The two planets were trying to negotiate a peace treaty and they were meeting on Vega Three to discuss the terms. As it turned out, Varek was the bodyguard for the Altairan ambassador. We reconnected and decided to go into business together."

Buck nodded, grinned. "I like Varek."

Sharese took another sip. "Yeah, so do I. He's gone through some rough times, so I kind of keep him going. And he tries to keep me straight."

"Does it work?"  
She glanced into Buck's grinning eyes. She held her emotions for only a moment before she grinned in return. "Most of the time! Whenever I start falling off the path, he's there to put me right again."

"Except this time with Bettino."

Her eyes narrowed. "Nobody's going to deny me this one." She turned to glare at Buck. "Not even you!"

"Wouldn't even think about it."

She cocked her head. "Why not? You're a do-gooder always getting in the way."

Buck turned to look at the man who had just entered the bar. "Let's just say you don't know me like you think you do."

"What do you mean?"

He turned to face her seriously. "If someone killed my entire family, I'd want to get revenge too. So you and me aren't as different as you think. I'll help you as much as I can."

She nodded and gave Buck a genuine smile. "Thank you."

"Oh, and by the way: he's here."

He moved his head to indicate the doorway. "Don't look!" he whispered.

She moved just her eyes to see the man who killed her family. She looked back at Buck. "So how do you want to do this?"

"Do you think he'll recognize you?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. He might. He won't know I'm after him, since nobody knows what planet I'm from… except Varek, and now you."

"Okay. Just remember my name is Captain Jack Morgan, not Buck Rogers."  
She placed her hand on his cheek and moved closer. "I've got it, Captain Jack."

"Kiss me," Buck whispered.

"Why?"

"It's for the cover. He thinks I'm an assassin on furlough. I'm only here to pass the time between jobs."

"Do you want me to kiss you for the cover or is it because you think I have a hot body" she asked, smiling.

Buck smirked slightly. "I really don't have to answer that, do I?"

She planted her lips onto his; gently at first. Buck's eyes moved to see Bettino beginning to walk in his direction. However he quickly forgot about Bettino when Sharese maneuvered in the booth until she was sitting on his lap, straddling his legs. They continued to kiss passionately for several minutes while Bettino simply stood and watched. Finally he cleared his throat to get Buck's attention, but it didn't work.

"Captain Morgan," he called.

Still nothing happened. On the third repeat of his name, Buck opened his eyes and saw Bettino as if for the first time. Sharese kissed him one last time before turning around to look at Bettino.

"What are you? The bouncer?" she asked gruffly.

Bettino cleared his throat again. "No, I am a business associate of Captain Morgan. We had arranged to meet here."

She turned back to Buck. "I thought you were here to meet me!" she said seductively.

Buck smiled broadly. "You know how it is, Honey. I have to talk to Mister Bettino for just a couple minutes. We started a business transaction a couple days ago and we're meeting here to complete it. Give me fifteen minutes, then I'm all yours."

She pretended to frown. "Okay, Jack." She swung her leg off of Buck and smirked. "I wouldn't stand up for a couple minutes, if I were you!"

She kissed him again quickly and then left the table. Bettino and Buck both watched her walk up to the bar counter and sit down. Bettino turned back to look at Buck.

"Wow," he started. "I almost hated to interrupt that!"

Buck indicated for Bettino to have a seat. "Sorry about that."

"No, no! Not a problem. It's been a long time since I've had a woman that passionate straddling me."

Buck took a deep breath and released it all at once. "Well, I suppose you want your money now."

Bettino glanced back at the woman at the bar. "Isn't that Sharese from the Legion of Doom?" he asked.

Buck nodded. "Used to be."

"Right, right. The Legion of Doom is defunct now isn't it? So how do you know her?"  
Buck shrugged. "Believe it or not, she was recruiting me to join the Legion. I almost joined, too. It came right down to the end between me and another mercenary, Raphael Argus."

"That's right! I remember him!"

"Argus got the job because he had better name recognition. I'd done more hits, but most of my jobs were anonymous and inside Draconian space. He got the job because more people knew his name, and the Legion was looking for name recognition, not anonymity. As it turned out, it's a good thing I didn't join."

"Yeah. Whatever happened to the Legion anyway?"

Buck shrugged again. "Well Morgan Deneva was killed by an Earth agent; Jolen Quince is missing presumed dead, killed by an Earth agent; Seton Kellog is missing, presumed dead, killed by an Earth agent; Marcos Marsuka is missing, presumed dead, killed by an Earth agent; Raphael Argus is missing, presumed dead, killed by an Earth agent… Recognize a pattern?"

"Yes, I do. I didn't realize the Earth Directorate had killed so many of my customers. I'm going to have to pay attention to that last group I sold to."

"What, Bacote's group, the Freedom from Tyranny?"

Bettino nodded. "Yes. They were planning a hit on one of the Terran cities. If it goes off, I may have to give them a bonus, or at least a discount."

Buck slapped the table with his hands gently. "Well, I'm able to move again. Shall we head upstairs?"

Bettino nodded, and together they left the bar. Once in the hall, they began to talk again. "Speaking of Earth agents, I noticed that you signed into the hotel using the name Buck Rogers. He's an agent from the Earth Directorate, is he not?"

Buck smirked out of one corner of his mouth. "He used to be!"

"You killed him? Here?"

He shook his head. "After you left Therion, I went to Collebria. I had heard there's this resort there where the women are… never mind."

"Ahh yes, I've been there. They are fantastic!"

Buck smiled. "Anyway, I was walking down the street and happened to see this Buck Rogers. I had heard that there was a contract out on the Prime Minister of Collebria, so I figured he was there to try to stop it."

"Was that contract yours?"

"No. But I don't appreciate people trying to stop me from doing the job I've been hired to do, so out of professional courtesy to whomever is doing the contract, I eliminated Buck Rogers. I then took his possessions, including his id chip and credit card," Buck said, pulling several items out of his pocket and showing them to the other man. "I figure I'll run up the credit chips and let the Earth Defense Directorate pay for some of my expenses, at least until they realize Rogers is dead and they cancel his cards."

Bettino simply smiled. "Ingenious."

They reached Buck's room and entered. Bettino immediately noticed Twiki standing in the corner by the bed. "What's that?"

Buck looked up and followed Bettino's gaze. "Oh, that's my personal assistant. He's the only one I trust. He's my alarm clock, personal data organizer, and overall best assistant I could ever ask for. Say hello, Twiki."

"Beep-be-de-de-beep: Hi'ya, Buck."

Bettino turned quickly to face Buck who simply shrugged. "Every time I assume a new identity, he keeps track of who I am so I don't forget. I've used so many aliases he helps me keep track of them all."

"Convenient."

Buck chuckled slightly. "The only thing he can't do is make a good cup of coffee. Well, there's another thing he can't do," Buck trailed off.

Bettino smiled. "That's what Sharese is for?"

"Exactly!"

"So, Captain Morgan. How is the gun you bought? Have you had a chance to put it through the paces yet?"

"Yeah, it's the best gun I've ever seen. Where'd you say you got it?"

"A little planet in the Epsilon sector."

"Right, right. That's real close to the Draconian border, isn't it?"

"Some of it is. This planet is more on this side of the sector."

"I haven't had the pleasure of doing much in the Epsilon sector, yet. Maybe I'll stop by the plant and take a tour, see how they make their weapons."

Bettino grimaced. "That might be a problem. Edenbridge is not an easy planet to get to. It's very secluded and selective on who gets temporary visas. In fact, I've only been there once, and that was on Mister Caputi's personal shuttle."

"Who's Mister Caputi?"

Bettino shrugged. "Nobody important."

Buck went over to the night stand, stopped, and turned back to face Bettino. "Eighteen hundred, right?"

"Yes."

He grinned. "How about we make it an even twenty? I don't want you to think you had to give me that much of a discount because of the Empress. Eighteen for the gun and two for the ammo I took."

Bettino nodded. "That will be acceptable. I've got a question for you, Captain. How do you normally do your hits? Are they all from long range?"

"No," Buck shook his head. "I try to change my M O with every one. I'm equally adept at the long range head shot as I am with breaking someone's neck. Every situation calls for something different."

"I see." Bettino reached into his pocked and pulled out a rectangular, black block. It looked kind of like a polished block of onyx. "In that case, I have a little bonus for you. I was wondering if you'd be interested in this? This is another one of my prototypes."

"What is it?" Buck asked.

Bettino cocked his head. "Excuse me?"

Buck shook his head. "I've never seen anything like it."

"They're the newest in handcuffs," he explained. "It's made of unbreakable polymers. Lasers just bounce off, and nothing in this galaxy can cut through it. This baby is completely unbreakable. Once this is on someone, the only way to get it off again is with the key. Would you be interested in test trialing a pair?"

"Sure."

Suddenly the door opened and Sharese barged into the room with her gun raised. "Don't move, Bettino!"

Before anyone could move, Bettino dropped a black-light bomb and everything turned dark. Buck felt someone grab his left arm and then heard a shot from a laser pistol.

"Beep-be-de-de-beep: Beep-be-de-de-beep: I'm blind!"

When the bomb dissipated and his eyes grew accustomed to the lighting again, he quickly realized that his left arm had been handcuffed to Sharese's right arm. A black, spherical hook extended from each end of the six inch block to grasp their wrists tightly. Sharese pulled her arm violently to try to loosen the grip, but all she managed to do was nearly pull Buck's shoulder out of its socket.

"Ow, what are you doing?" Buck hollered.

"Let go of me!" she screamed.

"I can't! We're stuck together!"

"Where's the key?"  
"Probably with him!"

"Then let's go! We can't let him get away!"

They started for the door. Just as soon as they reached the threshold of the door, instant pain screamed through their bodies, knocking them to the floor. They rolled around in pain for several moments until they noticed the further from the door they moved, the more the pain subsided. When it was gone, they stood up and cautiously began to approach the door. Sure enough, when they neared the door, the pain began again. Finally they backed away from the door and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"What were you doing?" Buck asked. "I had things under control!"

"No you didn't! You were losing him."

"What are you talking about?"

"I was outside the door monitoring his brain waves. He was beginning to doubt your story when he saw your drone. Then when you didn't know that these were handcuffs," she said, shaking her wrist, "He was getting ready to pull his gun. So I barged in before he could do anything. I didn't know he had a black-light bomb, though."

"So you saved my life?" Buck questioned.

"Don't get all wishy-washy," she mumbled. "It was just a spur of the moment thing. Trust me; it won't happen again."

"So how come we can't get out of this room?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. There must be some kind of field generating interference with the handcuffs. Hopefully it's just temporary."

"In the meantime, he gets away."

She jerked her arm. "It's all your fault! If I hadn't listened to you, he'd be dead right now and my family would be avenged!"

"Yeah, and someone else would just take his place and proceed to kill more families. Is that what you want?"

She turned away in a huff.

"Hey, at least I have an idea of where the weapons are coming from."

She looked over her shoulder at Buck. "Where? Edenbridge? Never heard of it."

"Tell you the truth, neither have I."

"So what do we do about getting this thing off of us?" she waved her wrist.

"We're gonna have to find him again and get the key."  
Just then a figure stepped carefully into the doorway. He quickly scanned the room. When he saw Buck and Sharese sitting on the bed and handcuffed together, he had to grin slightly.

"Am I interrupting anything?"  
Buck looked up with contempt. "Duke. Nice of you to show up."

"Am I late?"

Sharese shot her and Buck's arm into the air. "You tell me!"  
Duke looked at her for a moment before his eyes widened. "Hey! Isn't that-"

"Yeah, it's Sharese. Don't ask; long story."

"So I'm guessing Bettino got away?"

Buck nodded once.

"Sorry," Major Duke Danton apologized. "I got hung up in customs for the last forty-five minutes. For a low-life, lawless planet, they sure got some stupid customs restrictions. So what's with the handcuffs?"

"Bettino."

Duke set the large briefcase down that he had been carrying. "I brought the money you requested."

"Beep-be-de-de-beep: it's a little late now."

"Yeah, sorry about that. So what are you going to do now? Did you get any information out of him before he, uh... did that to you and got away?"

"He said something about a planet called Edenbridge."

Just then Duke burst out laughing. Sharese stood up rapidly and began to rush Danton. However, Buck pulled his arm back and she fell backwards and onto Buck. They rolled on the bed for a moment before Buck managed to get Sharese calmed down by getting her on her back and sitting on her hips.

"Hey, you can't do that!" he said loudly. "We're kind of stuck together!"

"He's laughing at us! I don't think this is funny!"

Buck glanced back to Duke. "Yeah, why are you laughing?"

"Apparently you don't know what Edenbridge is."

"No, I don't. What is Edenbridge?"

Duke chuckled again. "You might know it by its other name: Honeymoon Planet."

Buck and Sharese exchanged surprised glances. "Are you serious?" they asked in unison.

Duke nodded. "Yep. And the only way to get there is to be married."

"You have _got_ to be kidding," Sharese exploded.

Just then Varek entered the room. Duke whirled around with his gun aimed, but Buck stopped him. "What's up, Varek?"

"I followed Bettino to the space port. He left in a hurry."

"Did he place a flight plan?" Sharese asked.

Varek nodded. "He put in a plan for Edenbridge."

Duke giggled. "It looks like you're gonna have to get married if you want to go after him."

Sharese simply closed her eyes in disbelief. Buck shook his head. "Oh, man. Princess Ardala is NOT gonna believe this!" he mumbled to himself.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Sharese pushed Buck in the chest with all of her might. "Get off of me!"

"That's not what you were saying in the bar," he smirked.

"Yeah, well I was just acting then," she mumbled. "Just get off of me!"

"Are you going to calm down?"  
She sighed. "I'm going to have to, now aren't I? Yes! I'll behave."

Buck rolled over to allow Sharese to sit up. They both moved to the edge of the bed. Buck glanced up at Duke.

"Any ideas on how to get these off?"

Duke shrugged and shook his head. "Sorry, Buck. I've never seen anything like that."

"Me either."

"Yeah, that's why we're in this mess!" Sharese said loudly.

"No, we're in this mess because you charged in and scared him off," Buck countered.

"If I hadn't charged in, you'd probably be dead!" she said, shooting a nasty look in his direction. "On second thought, maybe that's not such a bad thing. At least I wouldn't be stuck to you."

"Hey, I'm not the worst person you could be handcuffed to."

She glared at him out of the corner of her eye. "Name someone worse."

"You could be handcuffed to Twiki!"

"Beep-be-de-de-beep: hey, baby!

Sharese gave Buck a dirty look.

Buck grinned. "Okay. How about Jolen Quince?"

Immediately Sharese winced and looked away. "Oh, don't even say that name! He was one disgusting slimeball of a man." She turned back and sighed. "Okay, so you're not the _worst_ thing to be stuck to."

Buck looked up at Varek. "You're sure Bettino is headed for Edenbridge?"

"It is possible he filed a false flight plan," Varek answered slowly.

Buck sighed. "But if I were him, that's the first place I'd head."

Sharese turned her head. "Why?"

"Bettino is a smart guy. That's why he's still in business. He saw me with you. How long do you think it'll take for him to get your recent business activity? As soon as he finds out you've gone legitimate and that you've cooperated with the police, he's gonna put two and two together and conclude that I really am Buck Rogers and we're working together to bring him to justice. He knows Edenbridge is safe until he can come up with a plan to kill us."

Sharese thought for a moment before nodding in agreement. "You're right. So what do we do?"

"As I see it, we have two options. Option One: we go to Edenbridge and eliminate him before he has time to react."

"But to get there, you have to get married," Duke argued.

"There is no way I'm going to marry you," Sharese told Buck.

"No, no. We can just fake it," Buck offered.

Sharese shrugged one shoulder. "I could do that."

"Beep-be-de-de-beep: can I be the best man?"

Duke shook his head. "Nope. That's not gonna work."

Buck and Sharese turned in unison. "Why not?"

Duke smirked slightly. "Part of the application process for a temporary visa there requires a video of the wedding."

"So we just fake the wedding," Buck said.

Again Duke grinned. "The officials who give approval watch the videos for accuracy and authenticity. The ceremony must be legitimate and legally binding on the world of origin, all corroborated by official documents which are then sent to Edenbridge for verification."

"Of all the stupid..." Buck started. "I've heard about elite resorts, but that goes too far. Okay, so that's not going to work."

"Beep-be-de-de-beep: always a bride's maid."

"Hey, how do you know so much about this place?" Buck asked Duke.

Duke stammered and winced for a moment. "I, uh, I looked into it a few years ago when I was dating someone."

"Wilma?"

Duke grinned ever so slightly. "That's none of your business!"

"Whatever. Okay, smart guy," Sharese quipped as she stared at Buck. "What's option number two?"

"Option two: we go to New Chicago and see if Doctor Huer and the lab technicians there can get this thing off of us," he said indicating the handcuffs.

She instantly slid away from Buck as far as she could get. "No way!" she hollered. "There's no way you're taking me back to New Chicago! I'm not going back there so you can arrest me!"

"Do you know anyone else who can take these things off?" Buck asked.

She thought for a moment before shaking her head. "No. But I'm not going back to New Chicago! I won't be arrested there!"

"I thought you said the Interstellar Council pardoned you."

"I did; they did. Do you think that's going to stop the Earth Directorate from arresting me anyway?

"They won't arrest you."

"You can't guarantee that!"

"I promise you that you won't be arrested," Buck said flatly.

"Pffft," she muttered. She pointed to Duke. "He wants to arrest me. Your bucket of bolts over there wants me arrested. You're outnumbered and outranked already and we're not even close to New Chicago."

Buck moved his free hand to reach for Sharese. She moved it away. "Don't touch me," she warned.

He persisted in moving his hand to her cheek. He forced her to look at him as he stared into her eyes. "I promise you on the graves of my mother and father and brother and sister; you will _not_ be arrested," he said softly.

She looked deeply into his eyes for a long moment. She stared into his eyes, through his eyes, and down deeply into the depths of his soul. She saw the honesty and the sincerity and the compassion of Buck's statement. At last she smiled weakly and nodded her head.

"I believe you," she whispered.

"Hey, now wait a minute," Duke interrupted. "You can't make a statement like that! She's still wanted for her participation in trying to blow up New Chicago!"

Buck turned his head. "She will _not_ be arrested. She will be coming to Earth as my guest. She has been pardoned by the interstellar police. She busted the League of Interstellar Mercenaries practically by herself. If I get my jurisdictions right, Earth Directorate has to abide by the laws set aside by the Interstellar Council, don't they?"

Duke shrugged. "I suppose so."

"So if she was pardoned by the Interstellar Council, then Earth has to abide by their decision, right Theo?"

Everyone turned to look at the computer hanging from Twiki's neck. Lights appeared to flash from the circular faceplate, but no sound came out. "Huh? That's funny," Buck muttered.

Lights continued to flash as if Theo were trying to talk, but still no sound exited from the speakers.

"Beep-be-de-de-beep: cat got your tongue?"

The lights flashed again for a moment before stopping. Buck cocked his head. "Theo, can you hear us?"

The lights flashed. Buck and Duke looked at each other.

"Theo," Buck started. "If you can hear us, blink a green light three times."

A green light on the faceplate flashed three times. Buck turned to Duke. "I think Theo's speakers were damaged by the black-light bomb."

"Beep-be-de-de-beep: I never thought he'd be speechless."

Buck turned to Sharese. "We have to go to New Chicago anyway to get Theo looked at. Don't worry, I'll keep you safe."

"I still don't know, Buck," Duke said. "How do you know you can trust her?"

"First of all, she'll be with me so what kind of trouble can she get into?"

Duke simply stared blankly back at Buck.

"Okay, forget I said that." He turned to Sharese. "Maybe we can't trust her. We can't verify her story because Theo's out of commission."

Sharese turned her back on Buck.

"Then how can you guarantee her safety in New Chicago?"

"Because she's with Varek."

Varek looked down at Buck. "I don't understand. Why does that matter?"

Buck smiled. "Because I trust Varek."

Duke sighed. "Okay, it's your call."

"So it's settled. We head to New Chicago."

"Whose ship do we take?" Sharese asked.

Buck glanced at her. "Good point. We can't really take mine. My seats are front/back, not side to side. I'd have to fly with one arm behind my back."

"Beep-be-de-de-beep: I thought you always said you could fly with two arms behind your back."

Buck turned and smirked at the droid. "Shut up, Twiki!"

"We'll have to take mine, then," Sharese said. "Varek, can you fly Buck's starfighter back?"

"Yes."

"There ya go, Twiki. You got yourself a new pilot."

"Beep-be-de-de-beep: I hope you know how to fly, Buster."

"Duke? Do you have a room here?"

"No. I wasn't planning on staying long."

Buck glanced at his watch. "It's getting late. We should probably get some rest before heading out. Earth is a pretty long trip from here."

"He can room with me," Varek offered.

"Good."

Sharese stood up. "Fine. I'll see all of you in the morning."

She started to walk before remembering that she was stuck. She fell off balance and fell into Buck's lap. "Get off of me," she hissed.

"You're on top of me!" Buck countered. "Again."

"Great! How are we going to do this?"

Buck shrugged. "We're just gonna have to sleep together until we get unstuck."

Sharese sighed heavily. "Why is it every time I see you, you piss me off?"

"It's just part of my charm," he grinned.

She sat back down on the bed. "Fine, let's get some sleep."

"We should really go to your room."

"Why?"

Buck hesitated for a moment. "Bettino might have some associates on this planet. He knows my room number. He doesn't know yours."

"But how are we going to get out of here?" she asked. "There's that interference in the doorway we couldn't get through before. And don't even suggest we go out the window. We're eighteen floors up and my room is on the twenty-third."

"Let's see if the interference is still there."

They stood up and cautiously approached the door. When they got about ten feet away, slight bouts of pain emanating from their wrists began to course through their bodies. They quickly backed away.

"Nope. Still there," she said.

"Well it's not safe staying here," Buck argued.

"Then what do you suggest?"

Buck took a deep breath and slowly released it. "We have Duke and Varek here. They can pull us through the door."

She glared at him from the corner of her eye. "That's going to hurt."

"It's better than being killed in our sleep."

She sighed. "Fine. Let's get this over with. You two better pull fast."

Varek and Duke waited in the hall. Buck and Sharese looked at each other for the longest moment, trying to psyche each other up. "I'll count to three," Buck said. "One... two... three!"  
They broke into a sprint toward the door. Before they could reach it, the pain flashed into their systems and knocked them to the floor. Varek grabbed Sharese's free hand while Duke took Buck's. They quickly pulled them through the doorway and down the hall several feet before the pain finally subsided. After the last remnant of tingling exited their bodies, they stood up and sighed in unison.

"That's not something I ever want to go through again," she muttered.

Buck nodded in agreement. "Yeah, me either. Hey Twiki, grab my bag will ya?"  
Twiki exited the room and headed for Buck. "Beep-be-de-de-beep: where do I get to sleep?"

"With Varek," Sharese said almost immediately.

"Beep-be-de-de-beep: I never get to see the good stuff."

She glared at the droid. "Trust me; there's not gonna be any good stuff." She glared at Buck. "Ever."

They started walking down the hall toward the elevator. Suddenly Buck stopped and turned his head to face Sharese. "What?" she asked.

"I just thought of something."

She sighed. "What is it?"

"How are we going to take a shower if we're stuck together?"

"We'll just have to do without for a few days. I've gone days before without taking a shower."

"But... how are we going to, uh, ..."

"What?"

Buck grinned wanly. "I need to use the bathroom."

Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped to the floor. She rolled her eyes and threw back her head. "You have GOT to be kidding!"


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Sharese maneuvered the ship into the military flight hangar, escorted by the two starfighters flown by Varek and Duke. All three set down in the middle of the hangar. Buck reached down to check the pistol strapped to his hip. Sharese glanced over at him.

"Do you think you'll need that?"

He shrugged. "You never know."

She closed her eyes and shook her head. "I really don't like this idea."

"I know," Buck nodded. "But I promised I would protect you... and I don't break my promises."

She stared into his eyes for a moment as she reached into his mind. "You are an honorable man." She continued to stare for only a moment. "You would have done well with the Legion," she added with a slight smirk.

They left the ship and exited the hangar without incident. When they reached the terminal, however, Sharese stopped suddenly when she saw all the armed soldiers. Buck nudged her along.

"These guys are always here."

When they reached the gate sensors, Buck removed his pistol and placed it on the counter beside the metal detector. He then raised his arm that was attached to Sharese.

"Morning, Captain Rogers," said the woman at the gate. "Welcome back."

"Morning. This is going to set off the alarm."

"What's wrong? How'd you get that?"

Buck simply smirked. "We just kind of grew attached to each other."

She giggled. "I wouldn't mind getting attached to you!"

Sharese rolled her eyes. "Can we get on with this? I've got better things to do."

The woman stopped laughing. "Of course. I'm sorry. Please step through."

Buck stepped through except for his left arm. The alarm didn't sound. He moved forward just enough until the handcuffs went through the sensors. Surprisingly the alarms didn't sound. Buck cocked his head and looked at the woman.

"Why didn't it go off?"

"It must not be metal," she offered.

Buck shrugged and motioned for Sharese to come through. She also stepped through the gate without the sensors going off. Buck grabbed his gun from the counter and placed it back in the holster. Once Varek, Duke, and Twiki were through the gate, they all started walking down the narrow hall. Suddenly the alarm sounded. Buck turned around to see several soldiers heading their direction.

"That's Sharese!" said a man behind the counter of the gate.

Buck swore as he looked at Sharese. "Run!"

Duke and Varek stopped and turned around to block the hall while Buck and Sharese ran into a wide open foyer. They made it about half way across the foyer before soldiers poured into the room from four separate hallways. Buck and Sharese stopped so fast that Twiki ran into them. Buck pulled out his pistol and stepped in front of Sharese.

"Captain Rogers, stand aside," said a bellowing voice from the back of the line of soldiers facing them. The soldiers parted slightly to allow a strong, muscular, older man to take front point.

"General Briggs!" Buck said loudly.

"Captain Rogers: you are harboring a wanted felon and an enemy of the Directorate. I order you to stand down."

He shook his head. "I can't do that, General. I promised her safe passage to Doctor Huer's office."

"Sharese is a member of the Legion of Doom. She is wanted for her participation in the plot to destroy New Chicago. Now step aside. I will not ask again."

"The Legion is-!" Sharese started.

Buck turned his head to shoosh her. "Let me talk," he ordered. He turned back to face the General. "General Briggs: I will admit to you that Sharese did participate in the operation that almost destroyed New Chicago. But I am telling you now that she has paid her penance and the Interstellar Council has given her a full pardon for her role in bringing down the League of Interstellar Mercenaries."

"I don't care about the Interstellar Council or the League of Interstellar Mercenaries. She is still a wanted felon on Earth."

"The Earth Defense Directorate has to abide by the laws of the Interstellar Council, do they not?"

"That's a debate for the lawyers. I answer to the Earth Defense Directorate _Military_ Council, not the Interstellar Council. You will step aside Captain Rogers or I will take you down too and you will be court-martialed."

Buck continued to stare down General Briggs for several moments.

"What will it be, Captain Rogers?"

Twiki moved to step beside Buck. Buck glanced down. "What are you doing?"

"Beep-be-de-de-beep: I told you before, Buck: I got your back."

"Thanks Twiki, but this might turn into a gun fight."

"Beep-be-de-de-beep: only the good die young."

Sharese tapped Buck on the shoulder. "Thank you for trying to protect me, but I'm not worth throwing away your career and your life. I told you I'd be arrested."

Buck shook his head. "I made a promise."

She moved her left hand to Buck's jaw and forced him to turn around. She looked deeply into his eyes. "Put away your gun. Even _I_ know when to surrender."

He took a deep breath and nodded. Slowly he replaced the gun into its holster. Buck then moved his hand to rest on his chest. General Briggs took a slight sigh of relief.

"Thank you, Captain Rogers. I didn't really want to fire on you."

Buck didn't look up. He simply stared at the floor. "I'm sorry, General," he mumbled almost inaudibly. Almost.

Sharese jerked her head to look at Buck. "What are you-?" She reached out her mind to touch Buck's. Her eyes widened. "Are you crazy?" she whispered. "They'll kill you! I'm not worth-"

He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "I made a promise."

"What if it doesn't work?"

He smirked wanly. "Then I'll see you in the afterlife. Twiki, close your eyes."

In one motion Buck grabbed the last black-light bomb from his shirt pocket and threw it to the floor. He grabbed his pistol and ran forward.

"Beep-be-de-de-beep: Not again!"

"Don't let them get away!" Briggs yelled above the commotion.

Buck and Sharese ran forward and honed in on the voice of the general. When the bomb dissipated, Sharese had her arm around the general's neck while Buck held the pistol to his head. They quickly backed into the nearby wall so no one could get behind them.

"General, order your troops to stand down," Buck said excitedly.

"Captain Rogers, you just signed your death sentence," Briggs said.

"You brought this on yourself. Order your men to stand down or I'll shoot you in the head right now! I'm not bluffing!"

The general moved his hand in a downward motion. The soldiers followed the order and lowered their weapons. "Good. Now we're going to take a little walk."

"Where are you taking me?"

"I told you I needed to get to Doctor Huer's office. That's where we're going."

"You're crazy if you think I'm going to help you and her! She's already tried to destroy New Chicago once!"

"Don't be stupid General. I'm trying to save New Chicago from a new, more powerful threat! When we get to Huer's office I can explain it to you."

"You better believe him, General," Sharese said. "I've read his mind. He's not a... (She looked at Buck briefly) 'happy camper'?"

Buck nodded. "Once we get to Huer's office, you can put your guards outside the door, inside the door, whatever. But once we get there, we'll get confirmation of my story."

"And if her story doesn't check out?"

"Then you can arrest both of us."

General Briggs nodded. Buck led him down the hall, into the elevator, and eventually to Dr. Huer's office. When they entered the office, Huer looked up from his desk to see Buck holding the gun on General Briggs. He stood up briskly.

"Good Heavens, Buck! What's going on?"

When the door closed, Buck turned to allow Huer to see Sharese. Huer's eyes widened as he slowly sat back down.

"Good God, what have you done, Buck? First the gun and now this?"

Buck and Sharese let go of General Briggs. "I can explain, Doc. I need you to do something for me first, though."

Huer noticed the solid black bar holding Buck and Sharese together. "Why are you handcuffed to her?"

"Long story. Doc, I need you to contact the interstellar authorities and get all the information you can about Sharese. She is no longer a fugitive. In fact she saved my life on Krypteria."

"But Buck, she is on the Directorate's most wanted list."

Buck sighed deeply. "Just check out her story. If it's not true, then you can arrest me and send me to jail."

"I want him executed!" Briggs screamed.

"Shut up!" Buck and Sharese said in unison.

Huer nodded and stood. "I'll consult with the Interstellar Council. In the meantime, I suggest you leave, General Briggs."

"Fine, but I'll be right outside waiting for Captain Rogers to leave. I will have him arrested for assaulting a superior officer."

Briggs left the office as Buck and Sharese sat down in front of Huer's desk. Huer went to the computer to request the information. When he was done, he looked over at Buck. "Where's Dr. Theopolis?"

Buck frowned. "His vocal circuits were damaged when Bettino got away from us. I told Twiki to take him straight to the lab."

"So Bettino got away?"

"Yeah; right after Sharese saved my life."

Buck recounted the events of the previous night, including Bettino's retreat to the planet of Edenbridge. Huer simply took in the story and details as objectively as he could. Buck explained how he and Sharese had become attached to each other and why they had returned to New Chicago. When Buck was done, Huer nodded once.

"I see. I expect it will take a few more minutes for the information to come back from the interstellar authorities. If you'll excuse me, I'll go talk to General Briggs and try to assuage him by telling him you've been working on an undercover, secret mission which he was not aware of. That should at least calm him down a little. If I were you, however, I'd stay away from him for awhile."

Huer left the room, leaving Buck and Sharese alone. She smiled and shook her head. "You _are_ crazy; you know that, don't you? I don't know if you're crazy or just plain lucky."  
"Well they used to call me 'Lucky Buck.'" He turned to look at her. "I told you I'd get you here."

"I believed your sincerity, but I didn't think you'd actually be able to pull it off. I thought for sure they would shoot and kill me. Thank you, Buck."

Expressionless, he looked at her. "I keep my promises."

"Your word is important to you, isn't it?"

He nodded. "Sometimes it's all you've got left."

She looked deeply into and through his eyes. Suddenly her expression turned to one of immense surprise. "Oh my God," she whispered softly and slowly.

"What?"  
She turned away quickly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..."

"What?"

She turned back. "I didn't know... about your family. I just assumed... you know... that someone else had..."

Buck looked away. "You need to stay out of my head."

She placed her hand on his cheek. "You need to tell someone! You need to tell someone about the holocaust before it eats you up!"

"What are you now? A psychiatrist?"

"Buck... I don't know what to say. Now I'm beginning to understand your fervor in keeping your promise to me."

Buck sighed heavily. "When I joined the Air Force, I promised to protect my family and country from harm. I wasn't able to keep that promise."

"But it wasn't your fault!"

"Tell that to all the people who died."

"Buck, you have to tell someone! You need to talk about it!"

"No way," he shook his head. "I've already gone on trial once before when they thought I had a hand in it. I won't go through that again."

"So you're just going to keep it hidden inside until it eats you up and sends you to your grave?"

"That's the plan."  
She shook her head. "Well at least I've got one answer."

"What's that?"

"You're not just lucky. You _are_ crazy."

She moved to straddle Buck's lap. "If we're going to be partners in catching Bettino, I need to know something."

"Oh, we're full-fledged partners now? I thought we just came here to get this off of us," he said, raising his wrist.

"Do you really think we're going to get these off without the key?"

Buck looked at her for a moment before shaking his head. "Not really."

"Neither do I. I'm still going after Bettino no matter what happens here. You have risked everything to trust me and protect me. No one has ever done that for me. I've never had a friend willing to do that, let alone an enemy. Who could ask for a better partner?"

"What if we can't get this thing off of us? Are you still willing to go to 'Honeymoon Planet' to find him?"

She brushed his lips with the fingers of her free hand. "A mercenary's got to be willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done," she said with a sly grin.

Buck smirked ever so slightly. "You like sitting on my lap, don't you?"  
She grinned. "I like being in charge!"

"So what do you need to know?"

She cocked her head slightly. "I need to know if my partner is up for anything. I need to know how far my partner is willing to go."

"How far are you willing to go?" Buck asked with a sly grin.

"I want Bettino dead," she answered seriously.

"I told you before; that's up to you. I don't care about him. I want Caputi."

"So you won't stop me?"

Buck shook his head. "I won't stop you."

"That's what I wanted to know." She bent over and began to kiss him. Just then the door opened up and Huer walked back in.

"Good Heavens," he muttered again.

Sharese continued to kiss Buck. Huer walked by them and returned to his seat behind the desk. Patiently he waited until Sharese was done and had returned to her chair.

"I have good news. The story she told you has checked out. Sharese has received a full pardon for all her past deeds. I am not necessarily happy with the ruling, but I will abide by the Council's decision."

"Great," Buck said hollowly, still a little shaken from the kiss. "Did you find out anything about Caputi?"

Huer shook his head. "Nothing, yet. But it's still early."

Buck nodded. "I understand. Now is there anything you can do about these?"

"Let's go down to the lab and see what they can do."

They followed Huer to the lab where they tried to cut, burn, and laser the handcuffs off. Nothing seemed to work. When the technicians had exhausted every conceivable option, they inspected the handcuffs. To their dismay, the cuffs showed absolutely no hint of damage.

"I see only two ways to take this off," the lead technician said.

"And what's that?" Buck asked.

"Either you find the key or you lose your hand."

Buck rolled his eyes. "Thanks. I prefer to keep my hand, thank you."

Doctor Huer tapped Buck on the shoulder. "Then I guess you're going to go after Bettino again?"

"Have to."

Sharese shook her head. "You know what this means, don't you?"

Buck nodded. "Yep. Doc; we need your help to plan a wedding."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Doctor Huer returned to his office to work on the details of getting the conference chamber for the ceremony, get the proper certificates and authorization for the marriage, and speed up the application process to Edenbridge. Buck and Sharese went into the shopping district to a well-known tailor to get fitted for their wedding outfits. It didn't take the pink-haired woman long to measure Sharese and Buck and come up with a solution to the difficulty of dressing them considering their handicap of only having one free arm each. She fitted Sharese with a sleeveless gown with rings running down each side of her torso that would attach by tiny gold hooks. For Buck she determined he would wear a conventional tuxedo specially customed to allow the left side of his outfit to appear normal by placing a Velcro-like addition to close the sleeve and torso.

When they were done at the tailor, they spent the rest of the afternoon working out other various details of the ceremony, including purchasing the rings. Buck was greatly confused when Sharese was surprisingly particular on which ring she wanted to purchase. However he didn't say anything. Instead he simply let her take her time deciding which one she wanted.

It was early evening by the time they returned to the Directorate and made their way to Dr. Huer's office. They sat down as Huer was just finishing up his business on the computer.

"Good timing," he said as he looked up. "I just got off a conference call with the interstellar police. They have a file on your man Caputi, albeit a small one."

"Great! Who is he?"  
Huer displayed a photo on the monitor. "His name is Barrett Caputi. This is the only picture they have of him. He is indeed suspected of being a big arms dealer, but nothing has ever been proven. He is very reclusive and doesn't get out much. He supposedly has a factory on Edenbridge, but no one has ever gotten close enough to decide what he actually makes there. He has no obvious ties to Bettino, but that could be just the fact that we don't know much about him."

"So we're going to have to pretty much wing it when we get there?" Buck questioned.

"That's what you're good at," Sharese commented.

Buck grinned. "Yeah, I guess. Do you know if Bettino is still there?"

Huer nodded. "Yes. Bettino is definitely on Edenbridge. We have a long range listening post in the general area. He is on Edenbridge, but we're not sure exactly where."

"So the wedding is still on."

"Indeed. Speaking of... I made arrangements for the conference chamber for tomorrow. I didn't know what time, so I told them sometime after noon."

"That works," Buck said. "We went to the tailor you suggested. She promised to have our clothes done by noon. Apparently she has quite a few droids very adept at sewing."

"And the best thing is, you don't have to pay them," Sharese grinned.

"Right! We also picked up the rings and arranged for the music and food, and the videographer. I tried to get Andromeda, but it was too short a notice for them, so we got a DJ."

"DJ?" Huer wondered aloud.

"Yeah; disc jockey. Uh, music editor?"

"Oh, of course. I was successful in getting all the paperwork authorization for the wedding sent to Edenbridge. I pulled a few strings and managed to get pre-authorization for your visas. All they need for final approval is to see the video. You should be able to leave day after tomorrow."

"So I guess the rest is up to us," Buck said, looking at Sharese.

"What do you mean?"  
"We have to make this look real."

She grinned and nodded. "I need to get to Edenbridge to find Bettino. It'll look real!" she promised.

"Then it's settled," Huer tapped the table. "Oh, there's one more thing. Actually two more things. The first is that there are absolutely no weapons of any kind allowed on Edenbridge."

Buck sighed. "That figures. What's the second?"

"The interstellar authorities didn't know how much influence Barrett Caputi has on the application process or the running of Edenbridge. Therefore, in an attempt to hide your identities, I have given you two new names."

Sharese glanced over at Buck. "There you go; another name for you! Can you say Denebian Slime Lord?"

Buck simply smirked. "So who are we?"  
"You will be Cody Bascom and Candus Korona."

Buck nodded in approval, glanced at Sharese out of the corner of his eye. "I could use a Corona right about now."

"What?"

"Never mind."

"I believe that's everything," Huer said as he stood. "I believe it's time for me to go home and get something to eat."

"That's not a bad idea," Buck said. "Are you hungry?" he asked Sharese.

"I'm starving."

Buck grinned. "I know this little place downtown. I taught the owner how to make pizza. It's not exactly old-style Chicago pizza, but it's as close as we're gonna get. You up for it?"

"What's pizza?"  
Buck smiled broadly. "Don't worry. You're gonna love this. I've never met anyone who didn't like pizza."

Sharese remained silent and looked out the window as Buck ordered the pizza. The street was busy with both vehicles above and pedestrians below. She watched patiently and quietly until the waiter left the booth. Then she turned to face Buck.

"I have a question for you."

"Shoot."

"What are we going to do if we don't find Bettino and get this thing off of us?"

He shrugged. "Let's not think like that. We'll find him."

"But what if we don't?"

He paused for a moment. "Then I suppose we become permanent partners."

She sighed heavily. "I never wanted to get married."

Buck grinned as he looked deeply into her eyes. "You had me fooled."  
She jerked her head. "What do you mean?"

"As long as it took you to find a ring, it looked like you had something specific in mind."

She looked away. "There was a time... long ago... I thought about it."

"What happened?"  
She shrugged. "What always happens? He found someone new, someone younger, someone prettier."

Buck rested his free hand on top of her chained one. "It doesn't always happen that way."

She frowned. "It does to me." She turned her head. "What about you? Do you have someone special?"

Now it was Buck's turn to look away and frown. "I used to," he finally said.

She concentrated for a moment. "Jennifer."

Buck whirled around. "I told you to stay out of my head!"

"Sorry," she apologized. "Old habits die hard. I'll try to stay out of your head."

"Everybody else's too, unless it's for a job."

She nodded. "I'll try." They fell into silence for several minutes before Sharese broke it. "So what happened to her?"

"To who?"  
"To Jennifer."

Buck narrowed his eyes. "Didn't you see?"

"You told me to stay out of your head."

"Didn't you see when you looked for her name?"

"I didn't look that deep."

Buck breathed heavily for a moment. The waiter came over to the table and plopped down a couple drinks and then left again. Buck took a sip of the tea.

"She died in the holocaust."  
"See, that's another reason you have to talk to someone about your involvement. You have unresolved issues, feelings, emotions."

"Are you a psychiatrist?"

"Nope," she grinned. "Just psychic! Sorry," she added after seeing Buck's dirty look. "I did used to be a bartender."

"That doesn't make you an expert."

"Close enough."

"I hear that Doctor Holstein in New London is pretty good with reattaching lost limbs. Maybe we can just get our hands cut off."

"Is that one of your defense mechanisms?"

"What?"

"Changing the subject?"

Buck grinned slightly. "Did it work?"

"No," she smiled. "I'm going to keep bugging you about this until you finally talk to someone about it."

"What do you care?"

"I'm going to be your partner and your wife! I don't want you breaking down in the middle of a job somewhere."

"I won't."

"Can you promise me that?"  
Buck hesitated for a moment. Then he turned to look into her eyes. "Yeah."

She stared at him for the longest moment before at last nodding. "Okay. I know how seriously you take your promises."

The two fell into silence for a moment before Buck furrowed his eyes. "You've changed."

"What do you mean?"

"It's almost like you think this wedding is real."

She stared at him blankly. "It _is _real."

"Legally, yeah. But it's almost like you're really accepting the fact that we might be married for a long time."

She moved her chained wrist. "We might be!"

Buck shook his head. "No, that's not it. There's something else."

Sharese looked out the window at the darkening street. "I've done some things in my life I'm not proud of," she said, still facing the window.

"We all have," Buck encouraged.

She finally turned to look at Buck. "But we're different. I've looked into your mind, your soul, your spirit. You have always done what you thought was the honorable and the right thing to do. Even with the holocaust," she said, lowering her voice. "You did the only thing you could do to save people's lives. I can't say the same thing. I have taken people's lives. I have done things that would shock you."

"But you were pardoned."

She shook her head. "That doesn't change the fact that I did them. The past two days we've been together-"

"Day and a half," he corrected.

"Whatever. In the time we've been together, you have trusted me, protected me, and helped me. I told you before that no one has ever done for me the things you have. I've come to respect you for that and for who you are as a person. You are an honorable man. You deserve to be married to a woman who rightfully deserves you. And I am far from being deserving of you."

Buck placed his hand onto hers again. "But-"

"Shut up. I'm not done, yet," she interrupted. "If I don't finish this, I may never. What I'm trying to say is this: I know deep down that I don't deserve you and that I could never measure up to what you do deserve. Any woman who does land you would be the luckiest woman in the galaxy. You will be loving, loyal, and dedicated to the one you choose. I know I've got you for the time being, only because of this," she said, shaking the chain. "You didn't choose me and you never would. And when we get this thing off, it's all over. I'll never find anyone half as good as you and I'm scared. So a part of me kind of wants to keep this thing on, at least for awhile."

"You're right. I didn't choose you, but fate did. Everything happens for a reason. I don't know how long we're going to be together. Nobody ever does. Let's just make the best of the time we do have together."

She stared into his eyes and smiled and nodded. "I can do that."

Buck smirked. "I don't know what we're going to do about tomorrow morning, though."

"What do you mean?"

"In my time, it was unlucky for the groom to see the bride the day of the wedding until the actual ceremony."

"Then you'll have to keep your eyes shut," she grinned.

They laughed together as the waiter brought the pizza to the table. Sharese looked at it dubiously as Buck put a piece onto her plate. He pulled on the long string of cheese until it finally broke. He looked at her and smiled.

"You're going to love this. But watch it; it's hot."

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and smiled. 'So are you,' she thought.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

**_(AUTHOR'S NOTE: THE FOLOWING SCENE IS NOT ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL FOR THE PLOT OF THE STORY. IF WE WERE WATCHING THIS ON TV, THIS SCENE WOULD PROBABLY BE DELETED FOR TIME CONSTRAINTS AND CONTENT. HOWEVER, WE ARE NOT WATCHING IT ON TV (THIS IS THE DVD EXTENDED VERSION!). CONSIDER THIS THE DIRECTOR'S EDITION.)_**

It was very late by the time they made it back to Buck's apartment. Buck expected Twiki to be waiting for him when he got back, but there was no sign of him anywhere. 'He must still be down at the lab with Theo,' he mused.

Buck yawned. "Are you ready for bed?" he asked.

Sharese shook her head. "I'd really like to take a shower before our big day tomorrow," she replied.

"I thought you said you could go days without taking a shower."

"Normally I can. But there's going to be a lot of people in the conference room tomorrow, and we have the fitting tomorrow morning. I don't want to stink them out. Besides, you could use a shower too."

"Can I help it if walking around town today made me sweat?" Buck asked as he raised up his free arm to sniff his armpit. "Oh, I see what you mean. Alright, I suppose we can take turns. I can wait outside the curtain while you shower. The bathroom's a little small, though."

They went into the bathroom. Sharese stepped into the shower and closed the curtain as well as she could. Buck could hear her getting undressed. Soon he saw clothes being tossed out of the shower and onto the floor. He heard her grunting a little.

"What's wrong?"

"I can't get my shirt off over the cuff." She stuck her bare arm out of the shower. "Can you rip it off?"  
Buck reached to the sink where he had a pair of scissors and cut the sleeve. The shirt fell easily to the bathroom floor.

"That was my favorite shirt, too," she moaned as she turned on the water.

In the meantime, Buck removed his shirt and also had to cut his sleeve to get it over the handcuff. The small bathroom quickly filled up with steam from the hot water of the shower.

"I hope you don't use all the hot water," Buck teased.

"I'm done. You can come in, now."

Buck handed her a towel. She covered herself up and they switched positions. Buck was halfway through his shower when the curtain pulled back and Sharese stepped back into the shower.

"Whoa, what are you doing?" Buck asked.

She grinned slightly. "Just thinking about what you said at the restaurant."

"And what was that?"

"Just making best of the time we have together," she said slyly.

"But it's bad luck to see the bride before the wedding," Buck reminded.

She took the soap and rubbed it onto Buck's chest. "Then close your eyes."

Buck simply stood there and smiled ever so slightly.

Sharese looked up with a slight grin on her face. "You're eyes aren't closed."

He nodded. "You're right. It's not morning yet!"

When the hot water finally turned cold, they got out and toweled off. Buck put on a pair of sweat pants while Sharese simply wrapped the towel around her.

"I forgot to bring my bag in," she explained.

Just as they exited the bathroom, the front doorbell rang. Buck looked at his watch. "Who the heck would be knocking at this time of night?"

They went to the door. Buck tapped a button to the right to see who it was. Wilma's face immediately filled the monitor. Sharese and Buck exchanged unsure glances.

"Can you pretend you're not here?" she asked.

He shook his head. "She knows better."

"Then tell her you're sleeping and tell her to go away!"

"If she's here at this time of night, it must be important. Try to stay out of sight."

"All I have on is a towel!" she whispered loudly.

"Yeah, I know! That's why I said try to stay out of sight!"

Sharese stepped as far away from the door as she could before Buck opened it.

"Wilma!" Buck said surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm sorry, Buck. Did I wake you?"  
"No, no. I just got out of the shower, but I was getting ready for bed. It's getting late. What's going on?"

"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry to come here this late, but I just got back from Harper Five."

"Yeah, how'd that go?"

"Okay, I guess. The reason I'm here is I heard something from the two girls at the security checkpoint when I got back and I just wanted to verify it."

"What'd you hear?"  
Wilma smiled and shook her head. "You're going to think I'm crazy. Maybe I'll just go to bed and talk to you tomorrow."

"No, what'd you hear?"  
She paused for a moment. "They said something about receiving orders from Doctor Huer about going to a wedding tomorrow."

Buck hesitated. "Oh yeah?"

Once again she paused and shook her head and smiled wanly. "Yeah. And the funny thing is they said it was your wedding."

She laughed awkwardly. "Mind if I come in?"

Before waiting for an answer, she stepped into the apartment several feet. When she turned to face Buck, she saw Sharese in the bath towel. Her eyes widened and her face turned red.

"I...I...I," she stammered. She turned to Buck and slapped his face. "How could you!" she screamed as she ran out of the room and down the hall.

Buck rushed out into the hall. "Wilma, I can explain! Wilma!"

He felt a slight tug on his arm. "Buck, it's cold out here!" Sharese complained. He continued to stand in the middle of the hall watching Wilma run until she disappeared around a corner. "Buck! Buck!"

Finally he turned to see Sharese standing in the hallway. Slowly he stepped back into the apartment and closed the door. He went to the couch and sat down. Sharese sat down beside him.

"I'm sorry."

He shook his head. "No, it's not your fault. Apparently she hasn't seen Doctor Huer, yet. She doesn't know about this," he indicated the handcuff.

Sharese remained quiet for a long moment. "She's in love with you," she finally said softly.

Buck jerked his head around. "I thought I told you to stay out of people's heads, especially my friends."

"I wasn't in her head," she replied truthfully, softly. "It was on her face."

Buck glared at Sharese for several seconds before looking away. "Oh."

"Sorry. I've seen that face a few times before. That's how I knew." She hesitated a moment. "I saw it on myself once."

Buck shook his head. "Yeah, I've seen it too... on occasion." He whirled around to face her. "Tell me this, then. If she loves me, why is she so cold sometimes? Whenever I think we're getting closer, she suddenly turns herself off and shuts me out."

"Maybe she's afraid of rejection."

Buck shook his head, gave her a frustrated grin. "You really are a psychiatrist, aren't you?"

"Bartender," she replied.

"Whatever."

Sharese shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe she has feelings of inadequacy like I do. Maybe she doesn't feel she lives up to your standards either. I don't know."

Buck shook his head. "You have a very high opinion of me."

She smiled broadly. "I'm beginning to!"

Buck stared at her for a moment before the corners of his mouth began to rise. "Are you going to sit on my lap again?"

"Do you want me to?"  
"You usually do when you feel like you're losing control."

"Maybe tonight I want to lose control!"

Buck looked at her and then began to laugh.

"What's so funny?"

He couldn't answer. He simply continued laughing. Finally Sharese got up and sat on his lap. She sat there for a minute just listening to him laugh. Finally she leaned over and kissed him to make him stop laughing.

"So what's so funny?"

Buck shook his head. "You!" he replied, beginning to giggle again.

"What did I do that's so funny?"

"Standing in the middle of the hall with nothing on but a bath towel!"

"That was your fault!"

"Maybe, but it was still funny."

Sharese shrugged. "Are you ready for bed yet?"

He nodded as he took a deep breath. "Do you think Wilma will come to the wedding?" he asked.

Sharese shook her head. "I wouldn't. She'll probably call in sick tomorrow, say she's got a headache. She won't talk to Doctor Huer until the day after tomorrow. That's when she'll find out about the handcuffs and our plan to go to Edenbridge to find Bettino and Caputi."

Buck nodded. "Yeah, you're probably right. Should I give her a call tonight?"

"Do you think she'll actually answer and talk to you?"  
He shook his head almost immediately. "No."

"Then I suggest we go to bed. We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow."

Buck rapidly stood up. Sharese squealed as she wrapped her legs around his hips and her arms around his neck in an attempt to hold on and not hit the floor. The only thing to hit the floor was the bath towel.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Buck and Sharese sat in silence in a small room attached to the conference chamber. Neither would even look at each other. The morning had been a blur of interruptions, fittings, and more interruptions. Everyone from the decorators asking where to put things, the music editor asking what music to play, the caterer asking when to start serving appetizers, the steward asking how to set up the chairs for the ceremony, the tailor literally dressing them and doing the alterations on the spot... Finally Sharese lost her patience and sent everyone out of the room. Now they sat in silence.

"I swear," she muttered more to herself than actually talking to Buck. "If one more person walks through that door, I'm going to kill him."

The door opened. Sharese started to stand until she noticed the tall, masked figure. Varek entered followed by Duke.

"Varek!" Buck said cheerfully. "Where've you been?"

"Major Danton has been showing me the sights of your beautiful city," he said in his slow baritone. "The last time I was here, I was unable to appreciate the fullness of all your city had to offer."

Buck stood and shook the big man's hand. "It's all thanks to you, Varek. If it weren't for you, this city wouldn't even be standing."

He shrugged modestly. "I just did what I could."

Buck looked out the window at the mill of guests already in the chamber. He turned to Duke. "Hey, have you seen Wilma yet?"  
"No, I haven't," Duke replied. "She called in sick this morning. She said that she got in real late last night and that she had a headache."  
Buck looked down at Sharese who was still sitting on the bench. She simply nodded once. Buck turned back to Duke. "Could you do me a favor?"

"What is it?"

"Today is going to be a very busy day for me. I might not get a chance to see her before we leave for Edenbridge tonight. Could you tell her about the operation and try to explain this?" he asked, indicating the handcuff.

"Sure," he replied. "Does she know about the wedding?"

Buck closed his eyes and sighed. "Oh, yeah... she knows."

Duke nodded knowingly. "She came to see you last night?"

Buck nodded.

"And she saw you and Sharese..."

"Getting ready for bed. She ran out of the apartment before I could explain."

Duke nodded again. "I'll take care of it. So how are you two doing?"

Buck rolled his eyes. "Sharese is stressing out."

"Me?" she asked, glaring at Buck. "I'm not the one who threatened to, and I quote, 'Take your head and dunk it in the toilet three times and bring it up twice!'"

Buck shrugged sheepishly. "The tailor was pissing me off."

Duke chuckled. "I can see you saying that."

Buck slowly sat back down on the bench. "I am never, ever getting married again," he muttered.

Sharese nodded. "Me either."

Buck sighed. "I need a drink."

"Get me one, too," she commented.

"I thought you said you don't drink."

"I'm thinking about starting."

"I'll go get you something," Varek said as he turned.

Buck started to say something, but Varek had already disappeared from the room. He came back moments later with two glasses just as the music began to play.

"Better hurry up," Duke said. "It looks like it's about to start."

They both downed their drinks in a gulp. Sharese sputtered. "Oh, what is this?"

"I think the bartender called it an aurora," Varek said.

She shook her head. "It's the worst thing I've ever had in my life."

Buck stood up again. "Where is Twiki? Doctor Huer was supposed to give him the rings!"

Duke looked out the door. "I don't know, but things are starting. Doctor Huer is already on the podium." He tapped Varek. "We'd better go get our seats."

Sharese rose to stand beside Buck in the doorway. A flash of silver walking down the aisle caught her eye. She looked up and over her shoulder. "There's your drone."

Buck turned his eyes to see Twiki walking down the aisle. He breathed a slight sigh of relief. They watched until Twiki came to a stop in front of the podium. Then the music changed and everyone in the chamber stood. Buck took a deep breath and glanced down at Sharese.  
"That's our cue. Remember; this has to look real."

Sharese put her free hand on her chest to slow her racing heartbeat. "Oh, it's real, alright. It's real."

Slowly they exited their tiny room and walked along the back row of chairs until they reached the aisle. Slowly, deliberately they strolled down the aisle until they reached the podium. The music stopped and the guests all sat down.

"Friends," Doctor Huer started. "We have gathered today to witness the union of these two fine people; Cody Bascom of New Chicago and Candus Korona of New Manhattan. Matrimony is a holy thing not to be entered lightly. These two individuals have known each other for what seems forever. Their undying devotion to each other is evidenced by the ancient practice that they have resurrected; the practice of literally binding to each other." Huer indicated for them to raise their handcuffed hands. "This is symbolic of their love for each other; a love that will never die, never waver, never falter. Love is eternal; unbreakable by mortal man. Only in death will they be separated, and even that is only temporary for once they pass the Great Divide, their spirits will be reunited once again in the infinite rivers of the endless skies. Friends; please listen reverently to the songs of time, as performed by noted musicians and lifelong partners Luka and Kara Strayhorn."

The chamber fell silent for only a moment before the soft, gentle sound of a synthesizer could be heard. The music started slowly and softly, then gradually built in intensity. Buck closed his eyes and relaxed to the New Age sounds of the soothing synthesizer. He felt a slight squeeze in his hand. He turned to see Sharese smiling at him. He smiled back and nodded. Together they swayed slowly to the trance-inducing music. Eventually the sounds of an angelic voice began to sing softly. Buck glanced over to see the source of the vocals. The beautiful woman was dressed in a gown so pure white that it seemed to give off its own glow. Again Buck closed his eyes to listen to the words.

I see your smile, I long for your touch

I see your eyes, a pathway to your soul

You make me feel the way I've dreamed for so long

I openly give you all my love

My spirit and my soul

You are the one that I've been waiting for

I never want to let you go

I want to hold onto you forever

But forever is not long enough to spend with you

Forever could never expend all my love

But Forever is all the time we have

So Forever will simply have to do

You are the one I've been waiting for

You are the only one I see

You are the one I've been waiting for

You are the only one for me

You are the one I've been waiting for

I knew it from the start

You are the one I've been waiting for

To fill my lonely heart

When the first song was over, the music blended seamlessly into the next song.

In the world which surrounds us

In which vanity and chaos reigns

Only your deepest love for me

Can hold back the chilling rains

We are on different ends of light

Destiny has given us a chance

To bring our lonely flame together

To join the everlasting dance

The world surrounding us is cold

Only love can warm and pleasure the soul

Let our flames of love merge

And together make each other whole

In the world which surrounds us

In which vanity and chaos does reign

No more will we have to fight alone

Our search for true love was not in vain

Angel of Light, Angel of Fantasy

Angel of Light, Angel of Reality

Angel of Light, Angel of my Fantasy

Please come to be my reality

Angel of Light as sure as the sunlight beams

Come to me oh Angel of my Dreams.

The rest of the ceremony seemed to blur in Buck's mind. Doctor Huer gave a thirty minute speech about love, devotion, and who knows what else. Every so often Buck would glance at Sharese. She looked just as dazed as he did. For a moment he wondered what was really in the drink that Varek had given them. He could see himself exchanging the rings, repeating the vows, but somehow he just didn't feel right. He almost felt like he was running on automatic. The fog in his mind simply would not go away. He could feel himself still swaying to the music, but there was no music. Finally he figured it was just natural once he noticed Sharese also swaying to the music that wasn't there.

Suddenly everything seemed to stop. Buck shook his head and blinked his eyes several times to try to clear the fog. He looked up at Doctor Huer unsurely.

"Huh?" he asked softly.

Doctor Huer grinned knowingly. "I said, 'You may now kiss the bride!'"

Buck's eyes grew large. "Oh, right!"

With one hand he removed the veil from Sharese's face. They seemed to hesitate for the longest moment. Finally they smiled at each other and embraced into a passionate kiss. When they were done, they turned to face the audience.

"I now present to you Mister and Missus Cody and Candus Bascom."


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

It was early evening before Doctor Huer found Buck and Sharese sitting in a quiet corner of the banquet hall. He sat down at the table.

"Relaxing?"

Buck sighed. "We finally got a couple minutes to ourselves."

Sharese tapped Buck on the arm. "Yeah; all those girls kept coming up to you crying that they were going to miss you."

Buck shrugged. "What can I say? I like to mingle."

"Well that's going to stop!"

Buck turned to Huer. "Sounds like a real wife, doesn't she?"

"I am your real wife!"

Huer chuckled heartily. "Well I've got some good news for you, Buck. I just received word that the authorities on Edenbridge approved your video. You are free to leave as soon as you wish."

"Great! Thanks, Doc. You did a great job up there. I was impressed."

Huer smiled. "I enjoyed it. I haven't done a wedding for so long; I think I was as nervous as you. I looked at you at one point and I could have sworn that you were in a daze or a trance."

Sharese and Buck looked at each other and giggled. "We were," he finally answered. "Varek slipped us a mild sedative before the ceremony."

"How much of it do you remember?"

"I kind of blacked out during the music."

Sharese nodded. "Yeah, me too."

Buck slapped Huer on the shoulder. "I hope you saved a copy of the video. I'd like to see what I missed!"

"I'll drop it in your mailbox at the Directorate. I assume you'll be leaving soon for Edenbridge?"

"Yep. We packed up the ship this morning before coming over here."

They all stood up. Buck and Huer shook hands. "Good luck," Huer said.

"Thanks. I'll keep you posted as much as I can."

"Don't take any unnecessary risks. We don't know how much control Caputi has there. I still don't like the situation, but I understand your reasoning."

"It's okay, Doc. We'll be okay."

"What will you do if you are unable to break the handcuff?"

Buck and Sharese shrugged. "We kind of already talked about that. We'll cross that bridge when we get there. Well, are you ready?"

Sharese nodded. "It'll be nice to get into a nice quiet cockpit."

Buck chuckled. "It sure will."

On the way out they found Varek and made their way to the spaceport. Upon Varek's suggestion, Buck and Sharese rested in the cabin at the back of the ship while Varek took the ship's controls since the trip to Edenbridge would take several hours. Sharese had started to argue, but agreed with Buck that they could use the rest. Varek assured them that he would let them know when they neared Edenbridge. Within minutes of lying down in almost complete solitude, both Buck and Sharese were out cold.

Buck woke with a start when the ship landed heavily onto the hangar floor. Varek came into the cabin.

"We are on Edenbridge," he announced.

"Hey, why didn't you wake us up sooner?" Buck asked.

"You looked too comfortable."

Buck and Sharese grabbed their bags and headed for the exit, but Varek met them at the door. "Your Doctor Huer gave me something to give you."

He pulled out two small boxes. When he opened one box, he pulled out a small holster and pistol. Buck cocked his head to one side.

"I thought he said weapons were illegal on this world."

"They are. But he said these shouldn't set off the alarms. They are of a new construction material."

Sharese shook her head. "I don't know about this. The last thing I need is to be arrested here for smuggling weapons."

Buck nodded. "Yeah, I agree."

Varek grinned. "You don't have to worry about that. I will be able to handle that."

"How?" Buck asked.

Varek took the weapons and stuck them inside his long trench coat. He then manipulated his molecules to turn invisible. Buck gave a low whistle.

"Wow! You can make them invisible too?"

"I can create a small field of invisibility extending approximately six inches from my body. I will be able to carry the weapons through customs."  
"What if the alarm goes off?"  
Varek smiled. "Who's going to see me?"

"He's got a point," Sharese commented.

"Okay. You wait until we get through the gates. I want to be well out of commotion range if something goes wrong."

"Understood. I will meet you at the hotel."

Buck and Sharese left the ship and headed across the hangar. They went to the customs counter and picked up the visas Doctor Huer had provided. At the security gate they set their bags on a conveyor belt that sent the bags through an automatic sensor. Once the bags were cleared, they were sent through the sensor gate. On the other side of the gate, they were met by a beautiful girl who draped a wreath of flowers around their necks.

"Welcome to Honeymoon Planet," they said cheerfully.

They picked up their bags and started down the long, wide hall towards the exit. They had almost reached the exit when an alarm suddenly sounded. Sharese started to run but Buck held her back.

"Act casual," he whispered. "We don't need any attention."

She nodded, and they continued down the hall and slowly left the spaceport. They found a taxi and headed for the hotel. Sharese looked out the window of the cab at the darkness surrounding the city.

"I wonder what time it is."

"It is just after midnight, local time," replied the cabbie.

After checking into the hotel, they went to their 'honeymoon suite' (every room at the hotel was a honeymoon suite!) and unpacked.

"So what kind of plan do you have?" she asked.

He tapped her in the head. "I thought we could walk around town tomorrow and use your talents. Maybe someone here will know something about Caputi."

"I thought you didn't want me to use my psychic abilities."

"Not on me! Would you rather to stop and talk to a thousand people tomorrow trying to get information the old fashioned way?"

She shook her head. "No. I wonder if Varek was able to get away."

Just then a knock sounded on the door. Buck opened the door and let Varek to enter the room.

"What happened?" Sharese asked.

"Apparently the sensors here are much more sensitive than Doctor Huer thought," Varek replied. "But I had no problems maintaining my invisibility and getting away." He pulled out the two small boxes from his coat. "Dr. Huer told me to say that this is his wedding present to you."

Buck grinned as he took one box and handed it to Sharese. He took the other one and immediately strapped it to his ankle.

"Perfect fit!"

Sharese looked up at Buck and smiled. "You better be careful. I have one too!"

"So what are you saying?"

"When we go out tomorrow, you better not be looking at all those other women!"

Buck smirked slightly. "Yeah, but you know who I'm coming home with."

She shook the handcuffs. "You got that right!"

He yawned which then caused her to yawn. "Well, let's get to bed. I have a feeling tomorrow's going to be another long day."

Buck and Sharese went into the bridal bedroom as Varek sat down on the couch in the living room area.

"That's alright," he said to no one but himself. "I'll sleep out here."


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Barrett Caputi stood at the window overlooking the inner sea. He took a sip from his wine glass as one of the double doors behind him opened. He did not turn.

"Mister Caputi," started the doorman. "Mister Bettino is here to see you as you requested."

He did not answer, choosing to simply nod. He heard shuffling of footsteps on the hardwood floor and then the door closing behind him. He sighed heavily, then turned and sat down at his desk.

"Mister Bettino," he breathed. "How unexpected to see you."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Caputi, but I can explain."

He waved him into the room and indicated for him to sit. "Yes, Mr. Bettino. Perhaps you can explain to me why you broke protocol and came here."

Bettino paused for the longest moment before quickly limping across the vast room. He sat down. "I had nowhere else to go."

"Oh, is that so?"  
"I believe I was being set up. I barely escaped Krypteria with my life."

Caputi shook his head. "I don't know why you insist on continuing to visit that planet. There must be someone there whose company you enjoy. Normally I wouldn't care what you do with your downtime, but when it forces you to break my number one rule of not coming here, I have to wonder. So who do you think is setting you up?"

Again Bettino hesitated to answer right away. He took a deep breath and sighed. "I believe that the Empress Ardala is behind it."

Caputi's eyes widened. "And why would Empress Ardala of the Draconian Empire be after you?"  
"I don't know!" he answered quickly. "I've never even been in the Draconian Empire space!"

"Try to explain."

"Yes, Sir. On the last delivery I made to Therion Two, I made contact with a mercenary who called himself Captain Jack Morgan, an assassin who had apparently made his mark in Draconian space. He told me that he had assassinated Emperor Draco."

Caputi shook his head calmly. "You fool. Draco died when his superfortress was accidentally fired upon by an ancient superweapon."

"Yes, I know! Or at least I thought I did."  
"Explain."

"He had a subspace communicator unlike any I've ever seen before. He had direct access to the Empress. She admitted to me that she had hired him to assassinate her father so she could take the throne."

"Are you sure it was the Empress Ardala?"  
Bettino quickly nodded. "Oh, yes! It was most definitely her!"

"So how does Krypteria fall into this scenario?"

"We agreed to complete our business deal there. See, he showed interest in the new Super Excelsior Mark eight which I allowed him to take on a trial basis. We were to meet on Krypteria to complete payment. When I saw him, he was with a woman; Sharese."

Caputi showed no emotion. "Sharese of the Legion of Doom?"

Bettino nodded. "Yes. I was in Morgan's room when she busted in and tried to shoot me."

"It looks like she succeeded."

"I barely escaped with my life. I dropped a black-light bomb and managed to handcuff them together with your new Black Grip before dropping a sonic enhancer in the doorway and running."

"It sounds to me like Sharese was after you, not Ardala."

"But I got the distinct impression that they were working together."

Caputi shook his head. "Sharese is not one to work for the Empire."

Bettino cocked his head. "You know Sharese?"

"Let's just say I have files on all of my former customers. And when she was with the Legion of Doom, they made many purchases."

"Yes, Sir."

"So you escaped and led them straight to me."  
"No, Sir!" he said hurriedly. "I came here because of your tight security and the security of the general planet is nearly impenetrable. Nothing short of a Draconian Superfortress could even begin to make a dent in your defenses."

"True. So what's stopping Ardala from coming here, assuming I believe your story that she's after you?"

"Edenbridge is completely autonomous. No one has jurisdiction here. She would be threatening galactic peace by coming here. She also warned me that if I crossed her man Morgan, that there was nowhere in the galaxy I could hide to get away from her."

"Since when do the Draconians care about galactic peace?"

Bettino held his silence. Caputi sighed and shook his head. "So how long do you wish to hide here?"  
"Just for a couple days until I can come up with a plan to eliminate Morgan and Sharese. Just a couple days, I swear."  
Caputi thought about it for several moments before finally nodding. "You may stay here for a few days."

"Thank you, Mister Caputi. I really appreciate this."

He simply waved his hand. Bettino took the hint and quickly left the office. As soon as he left, another door opened from the right side of the room and another man entered. He went straight for the front of the desk and sat down.

"What do you think?" he asked.

Caputi breathed heavily. "He has broken protocol number one."

"But he is our number one seller."  
Caputi nodded. "How many salesmen do we have?"  
The man glanced at the electronic clipboard in his hand. "We currently have fifteen salesmen."

"How many do we need to maintain a break-even bottom line?"

He did some quick calculations. "At current quotas we reach the break-even point with eight salesmen."

"What would happen to our profit margin if Mister Bettino was no longer with the organization?"

"If we eliminate his sales numbers for the past two years and assume that our other associates make up for his losses by-"

"No. Assume no increased production by our salesmen."

"Okay. In that case our sales would obviously decrease significantly, but the overall bottom line still puts us at a two hundred and seventy-five percent profit."

Caputi nodded. "Very well. You know what to do."  
"Yes, Sir. How do you wish to dispose of him?"

"Throw his body in the sea and dispose of his ship through the stargate."

"Yes, Sir."

"Oh, and if anyone comes through customs handcuffed to each other, let me know."

"Sir?"  
"Just a precaution."

"Couldn't we just have the overseers deny passage to anyone handcuffed to each other?"

"I have no authority to deny passage here or influence on the governing council. I am just a guest on their planet. Granted a very rich and powerful guest, but still a guest."

"A guest charged with planetary defense and the number one exporter and tax payer," he reminded.

Caputi nodded. "Yes, but still a guest. I enjoy my solitude here. I am not worried about anyone coming here to get me. In the unlikely case Empress Ardala is after him, we are capable of defending ourselves. If Sharese and this Morgan are acting independently against him, they will soon find Bettino's body. Make sure it doesn't wash up on shore for at least a couple days."

"What if they're coming after you?"

Caputi chuckled. "If they come after me? They will die."


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Buck and Sharese spent most of the day in the shopping district of town while Varek used his special abilities to infiltrate the capitol building. Varek's mission was to find out any business dealings Caputi might be involved with on Edenbridge and to possibly find the location of his residence slash factory. Meanwhile Sharese used her ability to scan both the town's residents and shop employees she saw to find out any information about Caputi or Bettino. To aid in their cover, she also was active in buying many souvenirs and keepsakes. When questioned by Buck, she simply answered, "How often does a girl get married?"

That evening they met up for dinner to compare notes. They went to a quiet restaurant and sat in a corner booth away from as many people as possible. Sharese sat down and laid her head on the table.

"Are you okay?" Buck asked.

She nodded once as her eyes closed. "You don't understand how tiring it is to use my psychic powers on as many people as I did today. It's like running a marathon... twice."

"Were you able to get any information?" Varek asked.

"No," she said softly. "Nothing. It's like no one here's ever heard of Caputi."

"How about you?" Buck asked Varek.

He set his elbows on the table. "I was unable to get the location of his house or his factory."

"What did you get?"

"Barrett Caputi approached the Edenbridge government about three years ago for a business license. At the time Edenbridge was in a legal dispute with several neighboring jurisdictions over who actually owned the planet. The council approved Caputi's application under the stipulation that he would provide for planetary defense. Shortly after Caputi moved his operation here, negotiations with the neighboring jurisdictions broke down. But before any actual fighting broke out, a mysterious force intervened and eliminated the offensive strike forces of the other planets."

"A mysterious force?" Buck asked.

Varek grinned wanly. "No one could prove it, but some people suspected Caputi was behind it. Afterwards Edenbridge was granted unquestioned autonomy and Caputi has been harbored here ever since. For the past two years he has been the number one exporter, the number one tax payer, the number one business employer, and the number one monetary contributor to the council members, as well as their defense contractor. Eliminating him will be a monumental task if you decide to do so. We will definitely get absolutely no support from the local government."

Buck sighed heavily. "Yeah, I didn't figure on any. So no word on Bettino?"

Varek shook his head. "If he's here, he received special permission from Barrett Caputi. He has his own spaceport. His exports go through there and not the resort spaceport. The resort is the only part of the planet that is open to the general public."

"And you couldn't find the spaceport or the factory?"

"I am sorry."

Buck shook his head. "That's alright, Varek. You got more information than we managed. If anything, you may have made our job all that much harder."

"How so?"

Buck glanced at Sharese who seemed to be asleep. He looked back at Varek. "If Caputi has the resources to eliminate entire strike forces of two planets at the same time, what else is he capable of?"

"Indeed," Varek said softly, nodding. "We must proceed cautiously."

"I agree. For now, I suggest we eat and then head back to the hotel. We'll start again tomorrow. We'll head down to the beach and see if the resort staff know anything."

"I'll return to the capitol building. There has to be some record of the factory's whereabouts."

Buck nodded. "Just be careful."

Buck woke up Sharese when the meal came. She managed to stay awake barely long enough to eat and make it back to the hotel before passing out again.

The next morning Varek went back into town as Buck and Sharese went down to the hotel beach. She scanned the inhabitants of the beach until lunch time. After eating lunch on the beach, they found a couple lounge chairs and sat down in the warm sun.

"I'm starting to wonder if coming here was just a waste of time," she said.

Buck sighed as he watched the activity of the beachgoers. "Maybe Varek can find something."

"What if he does? Then what? Barrett Caputi is a dangerous man. We probably won't even be able to get near him."

He paused for a moment as he watched a surfer get eaten by the waves. "We'll cross that bridge when we get there."

Suddenly a woman screamed out. Buck turned to see a crowd beginning to form at the coast. Sharese reached out her mind to touch that of the woman who screamed. Her eyes widened as she looked at Buck. She jumped up and practically pulled Buck up from his seat.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"They found a body!" she replied quickly.

They rushed to the forming crowd and gently moved their way to the body. When they saw who it was, both of them closed their eyes and shook their heads. They looked at each other.

"Bettino," they said in unison.

"You know him?" somebody asked.

Buck nodded. "Yeah," he replied hollowly.

They kneeled down to inspect the body. Buck looked up to one of the people gazing down. "Go call the hotel staff."

Sharese leaned into Buck's side. "Let's check his pockets! Maybe he still has the key to this thing!" she indicated the handcuff.

Buck nodded. They searched Bettino's body for the key but found nothing. Sharese shook her head and looked out across the massive body of water. "Is this a lake or an ocean?" she wondered.

Buck shrugged as he continued to search the body. "I don't know." He glanced up at the water. "Can't see anything on the other side."

She pointed to Bettino's body. "You know what this is, don't you?"

He turned his head to gaze at her. "What?"

She turned to stare across the endless water. "It's a warning."

"From Caputi?"

She nodded. "He's telling us that he has no qualms of killing his allies. His enemies should expect no less."

Buck continued to feel around the dead body. Suddenly he felt a small rectangular object in Bettino's jacket. He reached inside and pulled out a black card similar in size to a credit card. He inspected it briefly before sticking it in his back pocket. Sharese looked down.

"Find something?" she asked.

He shook his head. "Just a keycard."

He pulled it out to show her. She simply nodded and looked away. "Maybe we should just leave," she said simply.

Buck stood and stared across the water. Finally he shook his head. "We still need to find the key."

She stood in front of Buck and stared up into his face. "I want this thing off too. But I don't want to die to get it off. Caputi has shown us how far he's willing to go."

Buck put his free hand on the back of her head. "I don't want to die either. Are you saying this because your job is finished?"

"What do you mean?"

"You were after Bettino to kill him. He's dead now, so your job is done."

She stared into his eyes for a long moment before turning back to the water. "I know Caputi. I know what he's capable of."

Buck nudged her in the back. "Walk with me."

They slowly began to stroll down the beach. "How well do you know Caputi?"

She hesitated for several minutes. "Remember when I told you I'd seen that look that your friend Colonel Deering had on her face before?" She took a deep breath and slowly released it. "I was in love with Barrett Caputi. This was about five years ago. We actually lived together for awhile."

"What happened?"  
"What always happens? I caught him with another woman. I didn't even confront him about it. Somehow I knew that she wasn't the only one. I packed up my things and left. That was just before I joined the Legion. Come to think about it, he's probably the reason I joined the Legion. He turned me so off against all men that I became hard, cold. I just figured all men were like him so I decided I didn't need any."

Buck simply nodded. "Did you know what kind of business he did?"

She continued to stare down at the beach. "I knew. I didn't care. He would take me on a lot of his business deals. I was his insurance policy. You see at the time he did all of his sales himself. He would use me to scan his clients for their intent. I saved his life more than once on botched deals. I didn't realize it at the time, but he was just using me. I was just another tool in his arsenal."

"Is that where you met Kellog?"  
She nodded. "When I left Caputi, Kellog contacted me to join the Legion. I guess I was desperate enough to take the job. I needed the money and I needed a place to belong. I never saw Caputi again. The Legion continued doing business with him, but I refused to participate in the dealings. If I had seen him again, I probably would have killed him myself."

"And now that we're close to him, you want to run away?"

She stopped and turned to look at him. "I'm scared, Buck. I know what he can do. He killed his partner in cold blood. He's got literal armies willing to fight for him and do his dirty work. Anyone on this beach could be working for him."

Buck shook his head. "Not likely."

"Why not?"

"You would have found him," he said, tapping her on the head.

She shrugged. "I suppose so. But how do you fight someone like him?"

"By not backing down. You have incentive to bring him to justice. I have incentive to bring him to justice."

"What's your incentive?"

"His weapons are a threat to Earth. They were used to kill your city on Ballista. They can be used against any city on any planet in the galaxy."

"That was Bettino who killed my city."

"Yeah, but whose weapons was he using?"

She thought about it briefly before nodding. "Yeah, you're right. So what do you propose we do now? We still don't have any idea where he is. This is a big planet."

Buck turned to face the water. "He purposely dumped Bettino where we would find him. What do you think Caputi did with Bettino's ship?"

She thought for a moment. "Probably just aimed it at the closest stargate."

Buck nodded. "That's what I thought too."

"How does that help us?"

"It probably doesn't. All we know for sure is where he dumped Bettino's body.

He's got to have access to the water."

"That doesn't exactly narrow down our search."

Buck pointed across the water at the large cruise ship slowly approaching town. "I bet you that would narrow our search."

She looked at the ship and then back up at Buck. She narrowed her eyes. "How is that going to help?"

"Anyone who has a lot of money usually likes to flaunt it. I'd be willing to bet he's got a huge mansion on this planet somewhere. And how can you flaunt your money and house if no one can see it?"

"I'm not following."

"Caputi has money and power. He came to this planet for security and seclusion purposes. But he probably still has a need to show off to someone. I bet you his mansion can be seen from that cruise ship. And if we find his mansion, his factory can't be too far away."

Suddenly her face brightened. "I get what you're saying. So we go for a cruise looking for his house. What happens if we find it? Never mind, I already know."

Buck smiled. "We'll cross that bridge when we get there," they said in unison.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

They rushed up the beach to the information desk in the hotel lobby. They waited in line for a few minutes before they got to the woman behind the counter.

"Can I help you?"

"Yeah," Buck said. "We saw a cruise ship down at the beach. It looked like it was heading toward town."

The woman smiled and handed them a brochure. "Yes, that's the Jewel of the Sea. It takes you on a complete tour around the Inner Sea. There are five ships that tour the Inner Sea. It's a three day, two night tour that is totally free to guests of the resort. The ships leave every twelve hours. I believe the next one is boarding now."

Sharese quickly scanned the schedule in the brochure then looked at the clock behind the attendant. She turned to Buck. "It leaves in twenty minutes!"

"Thank you," Buck said as Sharese began dragging him toward the exit.

"Come on," she said.

"What about our bags?"

She shook her head. "We don't have time. It's only two days. We can wear what we have on for that long."

"How are we going to let Varek know where we are?" he asked as she rushed him out of the hotel. "If we don't come back tonight, he might get nervous wondering what happened to us."

They crawled into a taxi. "I'll let him know once we get to our cabin."

"How?"

She tapped her head. "I'll let him know."

They made it to the pier about five minutes before the ship was scheduled to set sail. They rushed up the plank.

"Reservations?" said one of the two sailors at the top of the plank.

Buck pulled out a small card from the hotel and their visas and showed it to the sailor. He nodded and quickly handed them back.

"No baggage?"

Sharese grinned slyly. "We're on our honeymoon," she said as she snuggled up against Buck's side. "Who needs that many clothes?"  
The young man smiled and nodded knowingly. "Yes, Ma'am. Please follow the steward. He will take you to your cabin."

They followed the steward into the interior of the ship. Finally he stopped at a door and led them inside. He showed them a few features of the cabin before Buck slipped him a couple credit chips. He closed the door behind him when he left. Buck slowly approached the round window looking onto the pier. Almost immediately the ship began to move, slowly at first, then rapidly accelerating away from the shore. Buck turned to look at Sharese who simply had a pale look on her face.

"What's wrong?" he asked. "Never been on a ship before?"  
She looked up briefly. "Not on water."

Buck rolled his eyes. "Great. If you get seasick, just aim it away from me."

Caputi looked up from his desk when the door opened. The man stepped lively into the room. "Mister Caputi, I have an update on Sharese and Morgan."

He returned to his work to finish something up quickly. After a moment, he put down his stylus and leaned back in his chair. He smiled and looked up at the man. "So tell me what my old darling Sharese is doing?"  
The man nodded. "They found Bettino's body just like you arranged. However, they are not doing as you predicted."

He narrowed his eyes. "They didn't leave?"  
"No, Sir. They booked passage on the Jewel of the Sea Three."

Caputi frowned. "I see. So Sharese thinks she can take me on? Pity. I had hoped our past relationship would convince her to leave well enough alone."

"Shall I arrange an 'accident'?"

"No," he said immediately shaking his head. "Even though she did leave me, I still have feelings for her. I don't want to kill her unless I absolutely have to. What you can do is arrange for another demonstration. Don't kill them. Just scare them."

The man nodded again. "Yes, Sir. It will be done."

Just before the man left, Caputi spoke up again. "Tell me, Cameroon. How are Sharese and this Morgan fellow getting along?"

He hesitated for the longest moment before Caputi chuckled heartily. "Don't worry, Cameroon. I don't kill the messenger."

Cameroon breathed a slight sigh of relief. "Yes, Sir, of course. They appear to be getting very close."

"Really? How close?"

He paused for another long moment. "Very close, Sir."

Caputi chuckled. "I see. Very well. Carry on. Remember, Cameroon: I don't want them killed. At least not yet."

It took Sharese almost a day and a half before she could pull herself to leave the cabin. She hadn't gotten sick, but she'd been close.

"Why is it I can live on a space ship for months at a time and never get sick, but I can't stand being on this ship? I should be used to the motions of travel."

Buck grinned supportively. "It's a different kind of motion."

She nodded. "I suppose so. I seem to be doing better. I don't know what I would have done without you here."

He shrugged. "Just glad I could help!"

She grinned and shook her head. "I bet! I think I'm ready for dinner, now. I'm getting hungry."

"That's a good sign. I just hope we haven't missed Caputi's house yet."

They finally left the cabin and headed upstairs to the outdoor café on the cruise ship. They sat under the canopy and enjoyed their evening meal under the full moon and bright stars. When they were done, they took a casual stroll down the deck of the ship until they found a secluded place at the back of the ship. Buck leaned up against the railing as he looked out across the water. Sharese snuggled against him in the chill breeze.

"Buck?"

He glanced down. She smiled up at him. "Thank you."

"For what?"

She shrugged one shoulder. "For being you."

"Who else would I be?"

"That's not what I meant."

Buck smirked as he looked across the water again. "I know."

She paused for a few minutes. "You know something? I've changed my outlook on men thanks to you."

"How so?"

"Somehow I've always attracted the wrong kind of man. I got to the point where I thought all men were the same until I met you."

"Maybe it had something to do with your job," he said matter of factly.

"Maybe. I think part of the problem was I could never trust them."

"Maybe they were intimidated by your ability to read them."

She looked away. "I just wanted to tell you that of all the men I've ever known, I'm glad I had to marry you."

Buck began to chuckle until a glimmer of a light across the water caught his attention. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a pair of binoculars. He looked for a minute before handing it to Sharese.

"There it is," he said. "The place looks huge. It looks like the White House, the Taj Mahal, and Buckingham Palace all rolled into one."

She panned the binoculars across the massive mansion. "I don't know what any of that means, but if you mean it's big... it is indeed big."

"I see you're looking at Master Caputi's house," came a voice from the darkness.

They both whirled around to look. Before they could move, however, a large man rushed Sharese, picked her up, and tossed her over the railing of the ship. She slammed into the side of the ship as Buck rammed into the railing. She dangled from the handcuff as Buck tried to pull her up. Before he could, another figure stepped from the shadows and punched Buck in the abdomen. Both men then started beating on Buck.

Buck elbowed one in the head and kicked him away briefly while the other continued to pound his body. Sharese dangled and screamed for help which didn't come. She tried to grab one of the assailant's ankles, but couldn't reach. Buck managed to headbutt one, but every time he took care of one, the other one would come back and punch him in the face or stomach. Buck's left leg seemed pinned against the railing as the entire left side of his body tried to compensate for the fact that his left arm had a hundred thirty pounds of dead weight hung over the edge of the railing. Suddenly something caught Sharese's eye. She twisted her body to reach Buck's left ankle and reached through the bottom railing with her left hand. She pulled the pistol from its holster and fired on the closest figure. He cried out in pain as he fell to the deck. He quickly got back up and tried to scramble away but Sharese shot him again. The second figure heard the first gunshot and immediately gave up his assault. He ran back into the shadows, leaving his partner to get shot a third time.

Buck reached his right arm over the railing and grasped her bound hand. With every ounce of strength he could muster, he pulled her back over the railing and onto the deck of the ship. She and Buck fell onto the deck, with Buck on the bottom. They heard some footsteps beside them. They turned their heads to see the assailant limping away as fast as he could. She laid her head on Buck's chest and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

He weakly nodded. "I will be as soon as you get off my stomach. You do like sitting on me, don't you?"

"Sorry!"

She rolled onto the deck beside him. More footsteps reached their ears. They looked up to see some of the crewmen running toward them. Quickly Sharese took the small pistol and slid it over the railing and into the sea.

"Don't want to get arrested for being armed," she quickly whispered in Buck's ear.

Buck took a deep breath and turned his head to look at Sharese in the dim lighting. "It's a good thing we're handcuffed to each other. Otherwise you'd be swimming right now."

She shook her head. "No I wouldn't. I don't swim. I'd be drowning right now. You saved my life."

Buck grinned slightly. "I guess that makes us even now."

She propped herself onto her elbow and giggled. "I guess it does!"

Buck leaned his head back onto the deck. "I guess Caputi doesn't want us looking at his house."

"We know how far he's willing to go," she said softly.

Buck turned his head. "How far are you willing to go?"

She grinned slightly. "All the way. I'm with you all the way, Buck."

Buck smirked as he lay back down just as the seamen reached them. "Don't make promises you can't keep!"

She kissed him on the cheek and returned his smile. "Never."


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Buck and Sharese were walking slowly through the lobby of the resort hotel when Buck heard his name. He turned to see a familiar face coming toward him.

"Wilma?"

"Buck!" She rushed up to him and gave him a big hug, which caused Buck to wince noticeably in pain. "It's good to see you!"

Buck grimaced and nodded. "Careful," he said softly.

Wilma immediately backed up. "What happened?"

"He got beat up last night," Sharese explained.

"Bettino? Caputi?"  
"No and yes," Buck answered. "Bettino is dead."

Wilma's eyes widened. "Did you...?"

"Caputi killed him," Sharese replied.

Buck cocked his head to one side. "Wait a minute," he started. "Wilma? What are you doing here? How'd you get here?"  
She grinned weakly. "I had to come here to apologize to you."

"Wilma, you don't have to-"

"Yes, I do. I was rude, unprofessional, and out of line. When Doctor Huer explained the situation to me, I pretty much demanded that I come here to help you."

"But how'd you get here? How'd they let you through customs?"  
Suddenly Buck saw the answer. The man quickly walked through the lobby to catch up with them. Buck turned to look at Wilma. "Duke?"

"It was the only way."

"I know," Buck nodded. "But Duke?"  
Major Danton caught up with Buck and Wilma. He grabbed Buck's hand and heartily shook it, which caused ripples of pain to flow through his body.

"What happened to you?" Duke asked.

"He got beat up last night," Sharese and Wilma answered in unison.

"I feel like I got blitzed one too many times," Buck muttered.

Duke smiled knowingly. "I know what that feels like!"  
"So what are you guys doing here?" Buck asked again.

"Doctor Huer thought you could use the help," Wilma said.

"Actually you ordered him to let us come here," Duke said to Wilma.

She shrugged sheepishly. "I just gave him my opinion."

It was Buck's turn to nod knowingly. "Yeah, I know what that's like!"

Wilma gave him a quick dirty look before giggling.

"So when did you get here?"

"Yesterday afternoon," Wilma replied. "We've been looking for you. Where have you been? We couldn't even find Varek."

"Not many people do find Varek," Sharese commented. "If he doesn't want to be found, he isn't."

Buck shifted his eyes away from Wilma. "We were out until this morning."

"Where?"  
"We took a cruise on the Inner Sea," Sharese answered flatly. "That's where we were attacked, right after we spotted Caputi's mansion."

Buck quickly hushed her. "Let's go upstairs," he said nervously, quickly scanning the lobby for bystanders. "It's a little more private up there."

They all readily agreed and proceeded to Buck's room. When they entered, they saw Varek sleeping on the couch. At the noise, however, he quickly woke up and arose.

"Now we can talk," Buck said.

"So what'd you find out about Caputi?" Duke asked.

"I want to hear some more about the cruise," Wilma commented.

Buck grinned slightly. "No, you don't. Sharese was sick for most of it. Then when we finally did go up deck, she got thrown overboard and I did my imitation of a side of beef while two goons imitated Rocky. It was not a fun trip."

"But you managed to see Caputi's mansion?" Duke asked.

Buck nodded. "Where's your map, Varek?"  
Varek pulled out a large rolled up scroll from underneath the couch and unrolled it onto the coffee table. Buck and Sharese sat down on the couch. Buck ran his finger along the approximate route of the cruise ship and did some quick calculations.

"Let's see, we got back to the port about an hour ago... we saw the mansion around eleven last night... got attacked two minutes after that... the whole trip took about sixty hours which puts us right about... there!"

He dropped his finger on a little inlet of the sea. Varek circled the spot with his pen and nodded. "That's a pretty good approximation," he said in his slow baritone.

Buck looked up. "Why? Don't tell me you found the house?"  
"No," Varek admitted. "But I was able to find the spaceport."

He took another scroll of paper and laid it overtop the map. "This is a satellite image I was able to acquire from the records division at the capitol yesterday." He pointed to a spot near where Buck had approximated the position of the mansion. "As you can see from the image, there is a rather large spaceport right here."

Sharese leaned in to get a closer look. "That's only about a hundred yards from the house."

Varek nodded. "Indeed. However, I was unable to locate the house or the factory in this image. I believe they are camouflaged somehow, either with natural vegetation or a holographic imager."

"Well if we know where the spaceport is, the factory has to be pretty close, doesn't it?" Wilma queried.

"You would think so," Buck replied. "But where?"

Duke kneeled down to look at the map from the other side of the coffee table. He and Sharese leaned in closer to the map.

"Something here doesn't look right," Duke said.

Everyone examined the map carefully until Sharese placed her finger near the spaceport. "See this?"

Everybody shook their heads except for Duke. "Yeah!"

"Varek; give me your pen," Sharese ordered.

She took the pen and marked the map with a dot. Duke pointed to another spot and she nodded and marked it. They marked two more dots and then looked up to the others. They had marked a perfect rectangular shape on the map. Buck and Wilma shook their heads.

"I still don't see anything," he said.

"If this map were in color you would," Sharese said confidently.

Duke nodded. "You're not really familiar with how holographic imagers work. They try to simulate the surrounding terrain, which they usually do very well. However, they are still limited by logistics of nature."

"Huh?"

Sharese pointed to one of the circled dots. "What do you see here?"  
Buck looked at it carefully. "Trees."

"If I do this, what does this look like?"  
"A right angle."

She looked at him as if waiting for a punch line. Finally Buck's eyes widened. He looked at the remaining three dots and fingered out the perfect right angles.

"What is it?" Wilma asked.

Buck smiled as he looked up. "There are no perfect right angles in nature."

"Exactly!" Duke applauded. "When you see a perfect right angle, it's man-made. If you look close enough, this line of trees and this line of trees form a perfect right angle. In nature, they wouldn't do that."

"Maybe they were planted that way."

Duke shook his head. "We're looking at the tops of the trees, not the trunks. If they were planted that way, the tops of the trees would still look circular. Trees grow crooked, unevenly, one tree grows faster than another. It wouldn't look uniform like this does," he explained.

Buck tapped the map. "Great! Now we found the factory."

"So what do we do with it?" Wilma asked.

Buck leaned back in the couch. "We blow it up."

"How are we supposed to get there?" Duke asked. "That's got to be a hundred miles away from here. And there aren't exactly transports to get us there."

"And there's probably a defense shield covering the entire area," Buck added.

"I can take care of that," Varek said evenly.

Buck glance up. "Yeah, I know you can get inside the shield, but we still need a way to get you to the shield."

"I can take care of that too," he assured.

"Whatcha talkin' 'bout, Varek?" Buck asked.

The corners of Varek's mouth upturned slightly. "You know I can manipulate my molecules."

"Yeah, but how's that going to help?"

"There are three ways I can manipulate them. First I can scatter them which allows me to walk through walls. Secondly I can have them alter the way light scatters when they pass through me which makes me invisible."

"Huh?" Wilma asked.

"I get it," Buck asked. "Wilma, why is your shirt blue?"

"Because it's made from blue fiber?"

Buck shook his head. "Nope. It's blue because when light touches your shirt, every color of the spectrum is absorbed by the shirt except the blue light. The fibers in your shirt reflect blue light which makes your shirt look blue."

"Exactly," Varek agreed. "I can make my molecules reflect every color of the spectrum which basically renders me invisible."

"Okay, so what's the third?"

"I can hyper-excite my molecules to travel at greatly increased speeds."

"So you can run faster?" Sharese asked.

He shook his head. "Not exactly. It's more like taking the molecules of my body and transporting them over a certain distance nearly instantaneously."

"So how long would it take you to cover a hundred miles?" Duke asked.

Varek thought for a moment. "Probably about five minutes."  
Buck gave a low whistle. "And I thought a four minute mile was good. Have you ever thought of trying out for the Olympics?"

"I prefer to remain in anonymity."

"Wait a minute," Sharese started. "How come I never knew you could do that?"  
Varek shrugged. "The need never arose where I had to."

She simply shook her head. Duke clapped his hands together as he stood. "Okay! So we have a way to penetrate the shield with Varek. Then what?"  
Buck sat up. "If Varek can get inside the factory, he can deactivate the shield protecting it. Then we can take a ship and land inside the complex. After that we infiltrate the factory and blow it up."

"Why can't we just blow it up from the air?" Wilma asked.

"Because we'd be pretty much guessing where to hit. If we get inside the factory, we can decide where to place the bombs where they would do the most damage."  
"I see. And we get the bombs from the factory itself?"

Buck smiled. "You got it! We'll use Caputi's own weapons to blow up his factory. Once the factory's out of commission, then we go after Caputi. It doesn't look very far from the factory to the mansion."

"And there's probably some kind of transport between the factory and the mansion to make it easy for Caputi to oversee the operation," Sharese said.

"That makes sense," Duke agreed.

"Sounds like a plan," Wilma said. "So when do we strike?"  
"As soon as it gets dark."

"But what if Caputi has sensor stations in his home?" Duke asked. "Varek could disable the shield, but our ships would still show up on radar."

Sharese tapped Buck on the shoulder. "I have an idea. Somehow Caputi knew we were on the cruise ship, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then he must have someone watching us, right?"

"Yeah."

"And he's trying to scare us off, right?"

"Yeah."

"So what are you getting at?" Wilma asked.

"We make it look like he succeeded."

Buck nodded and smiled. "Yeah, I get what you're saying. If we pack up our stuff and check out of the hotel and make it look like we're leaving Edenbridge, he'll think he's safe and then he can relax."

Sharese nodded. "Yes."

"But the spaceport would still be able to see any ship coming on radar."

"Not if we're invisible."

Everyone looked at Buck questioningly. He simply smiled and shrugged his shoulders. "I'll take care of that. Duke, if you don't hear from us, you take your ship and fly it to the factory as planned. Wilma, I need you to meet us on Sharese's ship."

"What do you have planned?" Wilma asked.

"Nothing specific, yet. I have an idea, but I'm not sure if it'll work yet."

"I'll need the combination lock code."

Sharese ripped off a corner of the map and wrote the combination down and handed it to Wilma. She looked at Buck.

"What do you have in mind?"  
Buck grinned slightly. "We're checking out and leaving the planet."

"And then?"

"And then we're going hunting."

Wilma looked at him unsurely. "What are you hunting for?"  
Buck smiled confidently. "Bettino's ship."

"Why?"

"We need a diversion to get Caputi's attention away from the factory. Bettino is going to get his revenge on Caputi for killing him."


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Cameroon entered the office quietly and quickly approached the desk. He waited patiently until Caputi looked up. "Report," he said curtly.

"I have three pieces of information. The man with Sharese: his real name is Buck Rogers. He is an agent from the Earth Directorate."

Caputi breathed heavily and nodded. "That makes more sense."

"Sir?"

"The Earth Alliance has been trying to undermine my operation for years. Bettino thought he was working for the Draconians. That didn't make any sense since we're outside their jurisdiction. What else?"

"They appear to be leaving."

A surprised look crossed his face. "Leaving? Are you sure?"  
"Yes, Sir. They checked out of the hotel and went straight to the spaceport. They should be reaching the stargate right about now."

"Hmm," he mused. "I didn't figure they'd scare so easily. But I'm glad they are leaving. I didn't really want to kill Sharese. What else?

"There appears to be a couple in the resort right now taking their place."

"What?"

"There is a man, a Major Duke Danton, and a woman, a Colonel Wilma Deering, staying at the hotel. They checked in two days ago."

"So?"

"They are also Earth agents."

Caputi nodded. "I see. It would appear that the Earth Directorate has declared war on me." He smiled. "If it's a war they want, it's a war they shall have. Send in my military advisors at once. I believe it's time to send a message to Earth. The destruction of New Tokyo should do the trick, I believe. Find the major and colonel and kill them."

"Yes, Sir. Major Danton is at the hotel right now. We lost track of Colonel Deering, though."

"Find her and eliminate her."

"Yes, Sir. It shall be done."

(change in scene)

"I have a question, Buck."

He turned in his seat to look at Wilma.

"How do you plan on finding Bettino's ship? We only have a couple hours."

"Assuming his ship was in Caputi's spaceport, we can use that to determine the most likely trajectory it was sent through the stargate. We use the computer to calculate the most likely path it would have taken on the way back out."

"But how do we know where it went through the stargate?"

"If there's no pilot onboard, where does the stargate send a ship?"

Wilma thought for a moment before smiling. "The next sector over! Of course!"

He simply grinned. "To go somewhere else, you have to input your coordinates when the gate is open."

Sharese nodded in approval. "You're brilliant, Buck."

"But what if the ship was manned and sent somewhere? They could have taken it anywhere and then docked and abandoned it."

Buck shrugged. "That's a possibility I'd already thought about. I don't think Caputi would have done that, though."

"Why not?"

He glanced at Sharese. "Something you said earlier. Caputi is always worried about his bottom line profit. Sending two ships through the stargate is more expensive than sending one."

"That's true," Sharese agreed. She looked out the view screen. "Speaking of stargates, we've reached it. Hang on."

Once through the gate, Sharese happened to glance at Buck who had his eyes closed. "You okay?" she asked.

He paused for a long moment with his eyes closed. Finally he opened them and returned her gaze. "Yeah, I'm alright. I just don't like those things."

"It's Buck's only weakness," Wilma said, smiling.

Sharese stole a look at Buck out of the corner of her eye. "The only one?" she asked with a curious look.

Buck instantly turned to the console in front of him. "I've input the probable path of the ship," he said, totally ignoring Sharese's comment. "Making course change now."

"What do we do if we don't find it?" Wilma asked.

Buck glanced at his watch. "We'll look for a couple hours. If we can't find it, then we go back to Edenbridge and steal a ship. Hopefully it doesn't come to that."

For an hour they searched for the missing ship. Suddenly Buck saw a little blip on his radar screen. They quickly closed distance until they had visual confirmation. It was slowly rotating out of control. Buck looked at Sharese.

"Can you dock with it?"  
She grimaced slightly. "I can try."

Buck looked over his shoulder. "Wilma, extend the docking rings."

Sharese eased toward the rotating ship. Cautiously she timed her approach and moved her ship into a matching rotation.

"Careful," Buck said softly.

She maneuvered the ship alongside and closed the distance. They heard a loud bang as Sharese silently swore. "Missed!" she muttered.

On her second attempt she slammed the side of the ship too hard and bounced off. Buck rested his free hand on her manacled arm. "You can do this," he coaxed.

On the third attempt, she hit the right spot and Wilma quickly latched the air-locks into place. Buck unbuckled his seatbelt tapped Sharese on the shoulder.

"Nice job. I knew you could do it. Wilma, take the helm. Sharese, come with me. We have a ship to hijack."

Buck and Sharese crawled through the airlock and into the abandoned ship. They floated through the ship to the cockpit to activate the artificial gravity. Once they were standing on the floor, they began their search.

"What are we looking for?" she asked.

"You ever smuggle anything?" he asked.

She smirked. "Maybe."

He extended his free arm. "There might still be some weapons hidden here. Let's see what we can find."

Sharese walked around the lounge area for a moment inspecting the walls and floor. She stepped up to one wall panel and felt around until she found a latch. She pulled the latch and a section of the wall slid away. Inside the hole in the wall was a large cache of weapons. Buck smiled.

"Bingo!"

He quickly inventoried the weapons in the wall. Finally he pulled one out and nodded. "This is the one."

"What do you have in mind?"  
"Do you know what this is?"

She nodded. "Yeah. It's an EM flash bomb."

"What's Caputi going to do when he finds this ship flying toward his house?"

"Blow it up."

"What happens when an EM flash bomb goes off?"  
She smiled. "It creates a magnetic field which renders all electronic systems blind!" She quickly kissed him. "You are a genius!"

He glanced at his watch. "It's almost time to head back. Let's go."

They went back to the airlock to see Wilma standing on the other side. "Did you find what you were looking for?" she asked.

"Sure did! Wilma, turn us around and head us back through the stargate. I can't activate this thing until we're on the other side."

"What are you doing with an EM flash bomb?"  
He smiled. "You'll see!"

Wilma took the controls and eased the pair of ships back onto a steady course. She then turned the ships around and went back through the stargate. Once through the gate, Buck activated the bomb and led Sharese back through the airlock. They closed the airlock, but didn't detach yet. Wilma looked back at Buck.

"Edenbridge Space Control is requesting clearance."

"Go ahead and use your confirmation. We checked out, remember? But you and Duke are still there. They should let us through."

She nodded and grabbed the microphone. "This is Wilma Dooring, confirmation number EA dash ET dash 78714."

The woman on the other end paused for a moment before answering. "You are confirmed as a resort guest. We didn't know you had left. We have you on automatic tractor beam. Sit back and enjoy the ride. We'll have you down in a few minutes."

"Thank you."

Wilma left the pilot's seat to let Sharese back into her seat. Buck sat down in his seat and began typing at his console. He turned to Sharese and nodded.

"Course change is ready. Are you?"

She nodded. "Time to blow the tractor beam!"

"How are you going to do that?" Wilma asked. "As soon as they notice a power surge in the weapons, they'll fire on us."

Sharese smirked. "I have a few tricks up my sleeve."

She worked her console for a few moments. Buck leaned over to see what she was doing. His eyes narrowed as he watched the readouts on the console.

"You're raising the shields?"  
"You can't raise shields when you're in a tractor beam!" Wilma exclaimed. "You'll blow us all apart!"

Sharese looked at Buck out of the corner of her eye as a slight hint of a grin appeared on the right side of her face. Buck continued to look at the display. He looked at the readout below the shield indicator.

"Wait a minute," he muttered. "The power is... negative? How is that possible?"

Sharese simply sat there staring at Buck out of the corner of her eye. Wilma cocked her head to one side. "She's not raising the shields," she breathed.

"Then what...?"

Suddenly Wilma's eyes widened. "She's turning her shields into an energy deflector array!"

Sharese smiled broadly. Buck looked at her confused. "Huh?"

"I told you I had some tricks up my sleeve."

"Why is the power negative?"

"She's collecting the power of the tractor beam to power the deflector array. That way it doesn't look like we're charging any systems," Wilma explained.

"When the array is at a hundred percent, all I have to do is discharge the power in one energy burst," Sharese added. "The burst will instantly disable the tractor beams for at least half an hour. And the beauty of it is, it appears to them to be a malfunction on their part."

"It doesn't seem to be charging very fast," Buck commented.

Sharese smiled. "It varies on the intensity of the tractor beam. Of course, the closer to the source of the tractor beam, the stronger it is. Don't worry. We've got plenty of time to charge the deflector."

"How close will we be?"

"It's usually completely charged around ten thousand feet from the source."

Buck nodded. "About two miles." He checked his navigation console. "Should be in about two minutes."

"Okay, Buck. You've got my plan figured out," Sharese started. "Now how about telling us the rest of your plan?"

He nodded. "As soon as we're free from the tractor beam, I'm gonna make the course change. As soon as it's confirmed, I need you to disengage the locking clamps."

"Then Bettino's ship will be coasting," she said unsurely.

"Yes. What I need you to do is to mimic the descent of the ship, but you need to stay directly underneath."

"How far?"

Buck shrugged. "At least half a mile below."

"Won't Caputi's radar be able to pick us up?"

"If we're following the exact path of Bettino's ship, they should only see one of us. Once we're below their radar, then we can change course to the factory."

"What about Duke?" Wilma asked. "They'll be able to see him on radar."

He turned slightly. "Remember the flash bomb? I activated it before we left the ship. Once Caputi finds out a ship is headed straight for his house, he's going to order it destroyed. By the time they get a chance to do anything, the ship will be close enough that when they do shoot it down, the flash bomb will go off and cause a blackout in a twenty mile radius."

"What about us?" Sharese asked. "Won't the blackout affect us too?"

Buck grimaced. "Probably."

"Then how-?"

"The timing of this is going to be critical. We need to be far enough away from the blast when it occurs that we won't be caught in the shockwave of the blackout until we're close enough to the factory. If we're within range of the factory, then we can coast down without power and land inside the shield that Varek is going to disable."

Sharese jerked her head. "You want me to fly into the factory landing area without power?"

Buck nodded. "I hope you're good. We only get one shot at this."

She took a deep breath. "Maybe we should trade seats."

Buck shook his head. "No time! We're at ninety-eight percent!"

Sharese whirled back to look at her console and swore. "How did I ever get in this mess in the first place," she muttered to no one in particular.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

"I don't know if I can do this," Sharese said.

"We don't have time to argue," Buck replied. "Time's up. We don't have enough time to switch. We can't anyway because of the handcuff."

She took one last look at Buck before sighing. "Okay," she finally said. "Here goes. Get ready to change course."

She tapped a button on her console. A giant pulse of blue light shot out heading toward the spaceport below them. In seconds, the green light of the tractor beam disappeared. She glanced at Buck.

"Change course!"

He sent the order to the computer to change course. The ship veered to the left sharply for a couple seconds before it flattened out. He looked back at Sharese.

"Course change confirmed. Release clamping locks."

She tapped another button. "Clamps released."

Wilma hit a control button in the cargo area. "Docking rings are retracted."

Buck motioned his free hand down. "Just remember to stay under the ship. Get down as quick as you dare, but be sure to stay exactly underneath."

Sharese clenched her teeth as she grasped the controls tightly with both hands.

(change in scene)

The woman pushed her chair back and turned to face the man standing beside her. She looked up, smiled, and crossed her legs.

"Quiet night," he said, winking at her.

She continued to smile at him. "Aren't they all?"

He gently ran his fingers through her long hair. "Storage room again?"  
She blushed slightly. "Aren't you afraid of getting caught?"  
"Why? No one ever comes down here. And it's not like anyone is foolish enough to take on the defenses Mister Caputi has here. We've got all night. What's half an hour? Okay, ten minutes? Five?"

Just then a soft beap sounded. He turned his head to look at the screen. He cocked his head. "What is that?"  
She turned to look at the radar. Without realizing it, she quickly did a double take. Her eyes widened as she swore.

"What is it?"  
She did a quick calculation on her console. "It's a ship!" she exclaimed. She reached for the red button beside her desk and depressed it. A shrill alarm sounded. She picked up a headphone and quickly placed it back onto her head.

"Radar Station One reporting: unidentified ship on collision course!"

Within half a minute, the room was abuzz with activity with people working on guidance, weapons, and communications. Another half minute passed before Cameroon rushed into the room.

"What's going on?" he asked roughly.

"A ship just appeared on radar," she explained.

"Just appeared? How is that possible?"

"I don't know, Sir. It was on track for the resort but it suddenly turned." She leaned forward to get a closer look at the radar. "That's odd," she muttered.

"What is it?"  
She shook her head. "It's almost like there's a double reading."

"What do you mean?"

"One reading shows the ship is about a mile and a half above sea level, but I'm getting another reading that says a mile above sea level."

"An echo?"

"It's possible, Sir. It is pretty foggy out there."

"Wallace; do you have visual yet?"  
"Yes, Sir."

Cameroon quickly moved to another station. "Magnify." His eyes widened. "It can't be," he whispered.

"What is it, Sir?"

"That's Pep Bettino's ship!"

The door opened and Caputi entered the room. "What's going on?" he demanded.

Cameroon turned and stood at attention. "Mister Caputi! There's a ship on collision course with the mansion!"

"Intercept it!"

"No time," said another voice from across the room.

"Then shoot it down!" he screamed. "What am I paying you people for?" Caputi noticed the ship on the view screen. He turned to Cameroon. "Isn't that Pep Bettino's ship?"

"It looks like it."

"Then how did it get back here?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, Sir."

"Laser is ready, Sir!"

"Fire!"

The view screen filled with light as the ship exploded in midair. Suddenly the entire room and everything in it went dark for several moments. Finally a set of green emergency lights activated to cast the room in an eerie green haze. Caputi sighed and turned to Cameroon.

"What happened?"

"All electrical systems appear to be down," he said. "It looks like we activated an EM flash bomb."

"Aren't these systems protected from flash bombs?"  
"Yes, Sir, they should be! I don't know what happened!"

A man stood from his station and turned to face Caputi. "It must have been one of our new prototype flash bombs," he offered. "The systems here were scheduled to be upgraded next week against them. The new bombs aren't even on the market yet."

"Then how did one get on that ship?" Cameroon asked.

Caputi shook his head. "Think about it. Bettino was my number one seller. He had a copy of all the prototypes."

"But how did his ship get here?"

Caputi took a deep breath and sighed heavily. In one motion he pulled out his gun from its hip holster and shot Cameroon in the forehead. The body slumped to the floor instantly. He turned to the woman at the radar station.

"I want the report on my desk in twenty minutes. I want to know how that ship got so close to us without anyone knowing about it. Everyone else; find out where that ship came from." He holstered his gun and glanced down at the dead body. "If we are under attack, he won't be the first one to die."

(change in scene)

The ship continued to descend into the growing fog over the sea. Finally Sharese glanced over at Buck. "We're below their radar."

He nodded. "According to the computer, the factory should be exactly twenty-two point eight three degrees starboard. Increase speed to twenty thousand."

She eased the ship into the turn and accelerated to twenty thousand. Buck stared at his readings intently for several moments. At last he turned to Sharese again.

"Climb!"

Sharese pulled back on the control stick, sending the ship almost into a vertical dive. A massive light appeared to the left side of the ship.

"Don't look at the flash!" Wilma warned.

Within seconds, every light in the cockpit extinguished. She sighed heavily as she looked at Buck out of the corner of her eye. "The ship's dead," she announced.

Buck rested his hand on her arm. "You can do this. Just stay on this course. We should see the factory in about thirty seconds."

Rapidly the ship began to helplessly descend. Thirty seconds passed, but the only thing anyone saw was a forest of trees. Another ten seconds passed in agony. Sharese didn't dare move her head.

"Where's the factory?" she asked excitedly. "I'm getting pretty low here!"

Just then a huge section of trees simply disappeared to be replaced by a large complex of buildings. Sharese swore.

"I'm coming in too fast!"

"Do you have any residual energy left from the deflector array?" Buck asked.

She glanced down at her reading. "I still have some in the capacitor. Why?"

He nodded. "Just before we touch down, release it! All of it! It might cushion the blow a little."

She turned the controls to spiral the ship around the complex. For many tense moments they continued to descend until it seemed that the ship would smash into the ground. Just before they landed, Sharese released the capacitor valve. The ship gave a quick jerk up, followed by a hard jarring down. Buck glanced over at Sharese and smiled.

"Nice job. I couldn't have done it better."

"I wonder where Duke is," Wilma said.

"Let's get out of here, first."

They quickly exited the ship and walked around for a minute. Buck noticed a pinpoint of light in the eastern sky. He waited a moment before pointing.

"There he is."

The starfighter quickly came into view and landed gently beside them. Duke exited his ship just as a reddish dome appeared over them and the complex.

"How'd you manage to simply fly in here?" Sharese asked. "We nearly crashed."

"He didn't fly through the pulse like we did," Buck explained.

Suddenly they saw a figure walking toward them. Buck instantly kneeled and reached for the pistol strapped to his ankle which wasn't there. A stricken panic began to overwhelm him. Sharese bent down and took the gun from her ankle holster and handed it to him.

"I took yours, remember?"

He nodded. "That's right. You threw mine into the sea."

Duke and Wilma hid behind the starfighter as the figure continued to walk toward them. After a moment, Buck breathed a sigh of relief and holstered his gun.

"Relax. It's only Varek."

Varek stepped up to them and shook hands with Buck. "I see you were successful in getting here," he said in his slow voice.

Buck grinned, tapped Sharese on the shoulder. "Couldn't have done it without help."

"So what's the plan now?" Duke asked.

Buck breathed heavily and pointed toward the largest building in the complex. "Now we blow it up."


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Before they went into the large factory building, Buck stopped Varek. "What's it look like inside?"

"The factory is mostly automated," Varek replied slowly. "There are only a couple human guards. They should be easy to avoid. There are also a couple dozen android guards which will be harder to avoid. If you do happen to run into one of them, this will disable them for approximately thirty seconds."

He held up four small black boxes. Buck took three of them and handed one to Duke and one to Wilma. "Where are the explosives located?"

"First floor, pretty much in the middle of the factory."

Buck nodded, then held up his shackled arm. "How about these?"  
Varek grinned slightly. He reached into another pocket and pulled out a long, thin magnetic strip. He pulled the adhesive strip protector off the back of the magnetic strip and placed it perfectly on top of the solid black handcuff. Nearly instantly both clamps opened and retracted back inside the body of the handcuff. Buck and Sharese both smiled broadly as they rubbed their respective wrists.

"Man, that feels so much better," Buck said.

"I was just getting used to it," Sharese said with a sly smile.

"Really?"

She shook her head. "No."

Buck nodded. "Okay, here's the plan. We all grab a bunch of bombs from the center of the factory. Wilma, you take the northeast of the plant; Duke, you take the northwest; Varek, you take the southwest; Sharese and I will take the southeast."

"Buck, we're not attached any more," Sharese reminded. "You take the southeast. I'll look around and see if I can find the passage to Caputi's mansion."

"That's a good idea."

"Are you sure you can trust her?" Duke asked.

She shot a dirty look in his direction. Buck placed a hand on her shoulder. "Yeah, I trust her. She has her reasons for getting Caputi too."

"What are they?"

"We don't have time to discuss it. Now when you place the bombs, try to put them in a place where there will be secondary explosions, or even chain reactions. I want this factory completely leveled."

"Where do we meet when we're done?" Wilma asked.

"Just inside this door. Will thirty minutes be enough for everyone?"

Duke and Wilma nodded. "Should be," she replied.

"Okay. Good luck."

They carefully entered the factory. Varek led them to the center of the factory where the bombs were held after being manufactured. Once there, Duke carefully examined one of the bombs.

"These are electronically activated," he said. "Someone will have to stay behind to send an electronic pulse."

"I know," Varek replied. "I have already planned on that."

"Will you be okay?" Buck asked.

He simply grinned. "Absolutely." He grabbed a handful of bombs. "Once all of you are clear, I will send the pulse from the security office. I will be able to escape the factory without harm."

Buck slapped Varek on the back of the shoulder and smiled. "Good luck, everyone. We meet in thirty minutes."

They all separated into different directions. After placing a few bombs beside a laser energy pack storage bin, Buck turned a corner and saw one of the automated guards. Quickly he deactivated the droid and moved into the next area before it could reactivate. Wilma placed several bombs beside massive engine components before moving upstairs. Duke found many barrels of liquid fuel to place his allotment of bombs. Varek went to the shipping area of the factory where he found many good candidates to blow up. When the thirty minutes were up, they all met back at the entrance to the factory. Everyone but Sharese, that is. Buck looked at his watch.

"Where is she?" Duke asked.

Wilma shook her head. "I don't like this."

"Everyone just relax," Buck insisted. "She'll be here."

Just then they heard a sound of footsteps running toward them. Everyone but Varek raised a pistol they had confiscated from their travels through the plant. Sharese turned the corner and slid to a stop when she saw the firing squad.

"You're late," Wilma said.

She bent over to catch her breath. "Yeah, I know. I see you all found some new hardware."

Duke lowered his gun. "I just like to be prepared."

Sharese nodded. "I found the tram tunnel to the mansion. I ran all the way back here so I wouldn't be too late."

Buck holstered his weapon. He turned to Wilma and Duke. "What do you want to do? Stay here or go after Caputi?"

"I'm sticking with you, Buck," Wilma said.

Duke nodded. "Yeah, me too."

"Good. Varek; you know what to do."

"Yes."

"Wait a minute," Wilma said. "What about our ships?"  
Varek stepped forward. "I will take care of that. I'll park them in the forest outside the shield."

"Sounds good," Buck said. He waved toward Sharese. "Lead the way."

Varek disappeared through a nearby wall as Sharese turned and headed back the way she had just come. She led them to a corner of the factory and down the stairs to the basement. She turned to make sure everyone was following.

"I'm sure there's an elevator somewhere, but it must be camouflaged. I didn't see it," she explained.

They walked through the basement for about ten minutes before they came to an open lobby. On the south side of the lobby was a set of double doors labeled, "Barrett Caputi. Authorized Personnel Only." Duke rested his hand on his holstered weapon as he slowly approached the doors.

"I don't like it," he said. "There should be guards here."

"There were," Sharese said. "I had to take them out. I just kind of stumbled into this place."

"Where'd you put them?"

"There's a closet over there," she pointed to the far wall.

Cautiously Duke approached the closet door. Wilma quickly joined him in the approach. Duke tapped the button. Both he and Wilma had their guns raised before the door rapidly slid open. Inside the closet were two unconscious guards. Duke breathed a sigh of relief and holstered his gun. Sharese turned to smile at Buck.

"They still don't trust me."

"They don't know you like I do."

The smile faded from her lips as she shook her head. "I'm sorry, Buck."

She dropped the blacklight bomb. Buck could feel a pair of hands strip his weapon from its holster. Two shots of laser fire ripped through the darkness followed by the sound of two bodies falling to the floor. When the bomb dissipated, Buck saw Duke and Wilma lying on the floor. Standing over top of them were the two guards from the closet. He turned slightly to see Sharese standing near him with two guns aimed at him. He closed his eyes and lowered his head in frustration. When he opened his eyes again, they focused on the woman whom he had married.

"Why?"

"I'm sorry, Buck. This is the only way."

Duke looked up from the floor. "I told you we couldn't trust her."

Buck reached out a hand toward Sharese but she took a step backward. "Don't," she ordered. "I'll shoot you if I have to."

"So what are you going to do with us?" Wilma asked.

She motioned with one of her guns to the guards. "Put them in the tram."

Duke and Wilma glared at Sharese for the longest minute before rising to their feet and going to the tram tunnel. Sharese shook the gun toward Buck.

"You too."

"You're going to turn us over to Caputi?"

She nodded. "I'm sorry, Buck. It's the only way."

"What about Varek?"

She smirked slightly. "I've already told him to hold off on the detonation. He will wait until I give him orders to do something else."

"I thought his job was to keep you straight."

"He's part of this job," she admitted. "He's known all along."

"I don't believe you."

She shrugged. "I don't care if you believe me or not. Varek and I went to Krypteria to kill Bettino alright, but not because he killed my family. I went to kill him so I could take his place."

"All of this was planned?"

"Everything except getting handcuffed to you."

"You lied to me? Why?"

"I lied to you about a lot of things."

"But we checked you out! You were really pardoned! You really did bring down the Interstellar League of Mercenaries!"

She nodded. "Yes, I did. But remember when I told you I was making more money now than I ever did before? That was a lie. We're barely scraping by. I don't need to live in the lap of luxury, but I need a little more than what I'm getting on the side of the law. Being a 'good guy' doesn't pay. I'm sorry, Buck. I truly am."

He simply shook his head. "I believed in you. I trusted you."

"And whose fault is that?"

Buck took a deep breath and slowly released it. "So everything was a lie."

She remained emotionless. "Not everything. What I said at the pizza place in New Chicago was true. You will make some girl very happy... if you live through this."

"So you're going to let Caputi kill us?"

She smirked slightly. "I'll see what I can do. I can't make any promises, though. You know how it is. Now get in the tram. We have a date to keep."

Buck entered the tram with Duke and Wilma. He turned to take one last look at Sharese who remained in the lobby with the two guards.

"You're not coming with us?"  
She shook her head. "You'll see me again. At least one more time."

The door shut and the tram began to move away from the station.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

"I told you she couldn't be trusted."

Buck took a brief glimpse at Duke. He shrugged. "I don't get it. I'm usually not that bad at judging somebody."

Wilma put her hands on his arm. "She had you fooled, Buck. She's a professional mercenary. This is what she does for a living."

He shook his head. "I know. But I really thought... oh, never mind." He took a deep breath. "Let's figure out what we can do now."

"We can try to overpower the guards as soon as we stop," Duke offered.

"Right. Okay, let's make a plan."

They rode the tram for nearly ten minutes before it slowed to a stop. When the doors opened, no less than fifteen heavily armed soldiers were waiting for them. Buck smiled wanly as he turned to Duke.

"So much for that idea."

They were led down the long hall until they reached a particular door. One of the soldiers opened it and motioned for them to enter the small room. The door shut and locked behind them. Before they could do anything, Buck noticed a gaseous substance beginning to fill the room from the small air duct. He barely made it to one of the three cots before collapsing.

(change of scene)

Sharese was taken into Caputi's office. The new steward quickly left the room and closed the door behind him. She casually approached the desk and sat down.

"Hello, Sharese," Caputi smiled cheerfully.

"Can it."

He smirked and nodded as he leaned back in his chair. "I see you still haven't forgiven me for my one little indiscretion."

"Only one?" she chuckled. "I was under the impression that there were a few more than just the one I caught you with."

He shrugged. "But you can't prove it, can you?"  
She concentrated for a moment before shaking her head. "No. Somehow you've learned how to keep me out of your head when you want to."

He smiled broadly. "It probably has something to do with my personal shield. It has many applications."

"I'm sure."

"So what do I owe the privilege of your company? Have you decided to come back to me?"

"Right," she said sarcastically. "How long did it take before you realized I was even gone? Did you even come looking for me?"

"I found out you went to work for Seton Kellog. I figured you needed your space.

I understand you have brought me some gifts."

She nodded. "That's just like you, isn't it? Always trying to change the subject to business. Fine, I can play it your way. Yeah, I brought a few people with me. I figured it might help to get me back in your door. The Earthlings kept interfering with my plans, so I brought them here to get them out of my way."

"And what are your plans?"

She crossed her legs and folded her arms. "I want Bettino's job."

He chuckled loudly. "Is that so? Why?"

"I'm tired of being poor."

He laid his hands on the table. "You can come back to me. You'd never have to work another day in your life."

"Ha, fat chance. I don't want you. I just want some of your money."

Caputi began to laugh. "That's what I like about you, Sharese. You're not one to mince words. Okay, so why should I hire you back?"

"You know my talents. I also have a partner with some pretty good talents of his own."

"Which one? Varek or Buck Rogers?"

"Rogers was never my partner," she scowled. "He was just an improvisation forced upon me by your former employee Bettino."

He nodded, grinned. "Of course. Am I to assume that you did not enjoy any of your time with Captain Rogers?"

"I didn't say that. I'm just saying that we were never partners."

He laughed. "Ever the mercenary. Anything for the job. Isn't that right?"

"Isn't that the first rule of mercenary?"

"Indeed."

Sharese wiggled in her seat to get comfortable. "So what are your plans to do with the Earthlings?"  
"I'll admit that I was willing to let them go. That was until Captain Rogers decided to come after me. Of course they will have to pay."

"Who? The Earth agents or Earth itself?"

Caputi smiled broadly. "Both. But why should I tell you my plans? How do I know I can trust you?"

She sighed deeply. "I've been hearing that line all week. If I told you that there was a plan to blow up your factory, would you believe me?"

He cocked his head to one side. "Which one?"

"Sharese narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean which one?"

He folded his arms. "I have more than one factory."

She shook her head. "I'm talking about the one we just came from, dumbass!"

He glared at her for a moment before breaking into laughter. "You always were the only one I would allow to talk to me like that. Okay, give me what you've got. After I confirm your story, we'll talk."

(change of scene)

Light began to slowly filter through the haze in his eyes. He rubbed his face with the palms of both hands and tried to sit up. Two more moans of discomfort penetrated the fog in his brain. When his eyes finally focused, he saw Duke and Wilma slowly getting to their feet.

"What was that?" Wilma asked.

"Some kind of sleeping drug," Duke replied.

Wilma looked over at Buck. He sat still at the edge of his cot, elbows on knees. "Are you okay, Buck?"

He simply nodded. Duke went to check the locked door. "I'm going to kill her when she gets back," he muttered.

"You'll have to beat me to her," Wilma said through clenched teeth.

He grinned weakly. "How about if we take turns?"

She nodded once. "That works for me."

Duke tipped his head toward Buck. "He's taking it pretty hard," he whispered.

Softly Wilma stepped up to the cot and sat down beside Buck. She placed her hands on his arm. "It's okay, Buck. We'll get out of here."

He didn't move. He simply sat there, staring at the floor.

(change of scene)

Caputi entered the large bedroom where Sharese was staying. She turned from the window.

"Nice view, isn't it?"

She turned back to the window. She stared at the seagulls flying all around, the sea surf splashing against the docks far below them, the sun glimmering off the waves. "Yes, it is very beautiful."

"Just like you."

She rolled her eyes and whirled to face him. "Stick it in your ass, Caputi. What do you want?"

He smiled. "I checked out your story. We found the explosives just where you said they'd be."

"So you believe me then?"

"Not entirely. At least not yet. But I can tell you that your bringing the Earthlings here has opened up an excellent opportunity for me."

"How so?"

"I believe it's time I got involved with the Earth Directorate directly. They have chased, captured, and killed enough of my clients that I can no longer ignore them. I have come up with a plan to destroy one of their cities; I'm leaning towards New Tokyo."

"That should be a good demonstration. There's over fifty million people there."

He smiled. "Exactly. And you unwittingly have helped my plan."

"What are you talking about?"

"My original plan would have taken about three weeks to get all the pieces into place and assembled. Now we can use the Earth agents' own starfighters to get all the pieces there in one trip. That leaves me with one dilemma, however."

Sharese crossed the room to sit at the edge of her bed. "And what is that?"  
"Which one to kill. We have two Terran starfighters, but three pilots. One of them is ambiguous."

"Why don't you interrogate them individually? Whichever one you feel is the least worthy will be the one to die."

He grinned. "I like that idea. Do you have anyone in mind first?"

"I'll bring you Buck Rogers. You may find him interesting."

Caputi nodded. "Bring him to my office in twenty minutes."

(change of scene)

Duke heard some scuffling outside the door before it opened. Ten armed guards poured into the room to form a semicircle centered on the door. Sharese stepped into the room, safely protected by the soldiers.

"What are you doing here?" Wilma hissed. "Haven't you done enough?"

Sharese grinned. "I'm here for Buck."

"He doesn't want to see you!"

"Why don't you get rid of your bodyguards for a minute?" Duke said with wide eyes. "We'll be sure to take real good care of you."

"I'm sure. Barrett Caputi wishes to talk to Buck."

"Why?" Wilma asked.

"If you must know, he has two starfighters but three pilots: you three! He has determined that he only needs two of you to fulfill his plans. He is going to interview all three of you to determine which one will die. Buck just happens to be lucky enough to go first."

"I suppose that was your suggestion."

"Maybe," she smiled sadistically. "Don't worry, Colonel. You'll get your chance to see Mister Caputi. You all will. Come along, Buck. We don't want to keep him waiting."

Wilma stood up so rapidly that every soldier in the room instantly raised his rifle. "You'll take Buck over my dead body!" she screamed.

"That can be arranged," Sharese said. She looked at Buck and stared at him for the briefest of moments. "Come along, Captain."

Buck looked at Sharese through narrowed eyes. He stared into her eyes for several moments before rising to his feet. He put his hands on Wilma's shoulders and gently pushed her aside.

"It's alright, Wilma. I'll go with her. I came here to see Caputi. This is my chance."

"But what if you don't come back?"

He smiled at her reassuringly. "Then you and Duke get to go free."

Wilma rammed her body into Buck's chest and grabbed his hands. "Don't talk like that!"

"Look at it this way, Wilma. If I don't go with them willingly, they can shoot me first and drag me down the hall. Don't worry. My ticket hasn't been punched yet."

Wilma took a deep breath. She slowly released it through clenched teeth. She turned to face Sharese.

"If you so much as touch a single hair on his head, so help me I will hunt you down and kill you in cold blood!"

Sharese smiled. "Promises, promises. Come along, Buck."

Buck walked through the line of soldiers and out the door with Sharese. The soldiers then quickly retreated from the room and locked the door. Wilma ran to the door and slammed her fist against the metal.

"You'd better come back, Buck," she breathed silently. "You'd better come back alive!"


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Sharese opened the door to the office and immediately crossed the room to stand beside the desk. Buck glanced behind him to see how many soldiers would come into the room behind him. None did. The door simply closed. Buck turned to face the man behind the desk on the other side of the immense office.

"Ahh, you must be the infamous Captain Rogers," the man said, smiling. "I've heard so much about you."

Buck displayed no show of emotion. "You must be the infamous Barrett Caputi. I've heard some things about you as well."

He stood and bowed. "All good, I hope."

"Not really. It all came from Sharese."

Caputi simply grinned. "Of course. Please, Captain; come in and have a seat. We have so much to talk about."

"Where's the rest of your guards?"

He smiled. "Sharese is the only one I need. Come, come."

Slowly Buck began to cross the room. When he reached the chair opposite the large desk, he stopped. "What's stopping me from jumping over this desk and strangling you right now? I can get there before Sharese can do anything."

"Can you now? If I want Sharese to give you pain, all I have to do is snap my fingers like this."

Sharese concentrated on Buck's face. Instantly his eyes widened as he fought the pain coursing through his veins. His body tensed.

"And if I want you on your knees..."

The pain intensified immensely until Buck was forced to drop to his knees. He knelt on the floor in pain for nearly a minute before Caputi snapped his fingers. Sharese blinked and looked away. The pain instantly ceased. Slowly Buck struggled to stand. Caputi motioned for Buck to sit in the chair. He glared at the man behind the desk for a long moment before moving to the chair and settling down.

"Is this how you start all your interrogations?"

Caputi smiled. "This isn't an interrogation. You have no vital information I need to extract. This is just a pleasant conversation between men."

Buck's body gave one last tingle aftershock. "It hasn't been too pleasant yet on my part."

Caputi smiled. "I like a man with a sense of humor. Tell me something, Captain. How was it sleeping with my fiancé?"

Buck glanced at Sharese who simply stared back at him blankly. "I thought she left you five years ago."

"Oh, she did. But we never officially broke off the engagement. So in your book, how was she?"

Buck shrugged nonchalantly. "Let me answer that question with another question. Does it bother you that she's still wearing the wedding ring that I bought her?"

Caputi jerked his head to look at Sharese's hand. He looked back at Buck and smiled. "Actually I hadn't noticed. Touché, Captain."

"I have another question for you. How are you going to marry her when she is legally married to me?"

"But marriages are broken when one partner dies, do they not?"

Buck remained quiet. Caputi looked at Sharese and indicated for her to approach Buck. "If I tell her to remove the ring, will she?" Caputi asked.

Sharese stepped up to Buck's chair and slid into his lap. She leaned down and kissed him gently. She removed the ring and eased it into his breast pocket.

"Consider this our divorce," she said softly before returning to her original position beside the desk.

Caputi sat behind the desk with a smug look on his face. "You haven't answered my question yet, Captain. How was she?"

Buck grinned ever so slightly. "I've had better. So is there a real reason why I'm here or are you going to act jealous all day?"

Caputi turned to Sharese. "I don't know why you don't like our Captain Rogers," he told her. "He's a lot like you."

"He's more of a man than you'll ever be," she snipped.

Caputi chuckled as he turned back to Buck. "Did she have that bad attitude when you were, uh, … you know?"

Buck smiled and shook his head. "No. She was quite pleasant."

Caputi frowned and nodded. "I see. Well, let's get down to business, shall we? You are here to prove your worth to me."

"Prove my worth?"

"Yes. I have a dilemma. I have one too many Earth pilots for my plan, so I need to get rid of one. Do you have any suggestions?"

"Yeah, I've got a few suggestions for you, but I don't think you'll like any of them."

"No, probably not."

Buck glanced at Sharese out of the corner of his eye and noticed a slight smirk on her lips. He didn't know if she were enjoying Buck's captivity or his verbal sparring with Caputi which he appeared to be winning.

"So why do you need two of us pilots?" Buck asked. "And why would we be willing to help you in your plans?"

"I wasn't going to ask you for your help. I just need to allow two of you to return to your Earth. One of you will not be making the trip. I need to send a message to your Defense Directorate and Doctor Huer to leave me alone."

Buck smirked slightly. "Why is it I don't believe you?"

"That's what's wrong with the galaxy today," Caputi said with a sigh. "Nobody trusts anybody anymore."

"There's a reason for that."

"And what would that be?"

Buck shrugged. "Trust is something that is earned, not expected. Isn't that right, Sharese? So how long were you planning on betraying me?"

"You know how it is for a mercenary, Buck," she answered.

He nodded. "Right. Anything it takes to finish the job, huh?"

She simply turned away. Caputi chuckled again. "Don't be too harsh on her, Captain. She may be the one to save your life."

"How's she going to do that? Why is she going to do that?"

"She's going to help me choose who returns to Earth and who dies. So far my vote is not looking favorable for you."

"Why's that?"

Caputi's expression turned serious as he placed his arms on the desk. "Because you strike me as a dangerous man. I don't like dangerous men, unless of course they are working for me."

"What makes you think I'm dangerous?"  
"Anyone who can marry and live with Sharese for as long as you have without her killing you is a dangerous man."

Buck glanced at Sharese. She folded her arms in a huff. "I'm not going to stand here and take this abuse." She moved across the room to Buck's chair. Once more she sat in his lap and reached for his breast pocket. "I want my ring back."

Buck reached up his hand to stop her. With his other hand, he reached into his own pocket and grasped the ring. As soon as he touched the ring, a sudden rush of images entered his mind. He jerked his head into the back of the chair and looked into Sharese's face. She softly caressed the hand in which he held the ring before placing it back on her finger. As the images slowly began to fade, Buck thought he saw Sharese wink at him. He wasn't sure if it was real or just a figment of his imagination. She slid off his lap and stood beside the chair.

"Are you turning against me, Sharese?"  
She shook her head. "No. I simply changed my mind. I prefer to keep this ring... as a reminder to you that I am not some piece of property that you can own. I told you this morning when I kicked you out of my room; our relationship is over. I don't want you anymore. I just want some of the money you have. The only relationship I want with you is to be your employee. Period."

"But I can give you so much more."

Sharese broke into a giggle. "Buck is more of a man than you could ever hope to be. He gave me so much more than I deserved. He protected me, respected me-"

"Trusted you," Buck interrupted.

She grimaced slightly. "Yeah, that too. I told you I was sorry about that, Buck. I had no intentions of getting you involved in this. But don't worry. You protected me against General Briggs on Earth and I will protect you here."

"How am I supposed to hire you as a trusted employee if you plan on protecting Captain Rogers?"

"You said yourself that Buck was a dangerous man and you don't like dangerous men unless they are working for you."

"Somehow I get the impression that Captain Rogers would not be the type of person to leave the Earth Directorate to enter my employ."

"He doesn't have to. All we have to do is to enter into an agreement."

"What kind of agreement?" Buck asked.

She grinned. "Buck knows when he's in over his head. When we found Bettino's body on the beach, he wanted to leave but I wouldn't let him. I talked him into taking the cruise to find your house. And then when your goons attacked us on the boat, he insisted on leaving again. The only reason we're here is because of me."

"What about the other two? Danton and Deering?"

She gave a nonchalant shrug. "We didn't know they were here until they saw us in the lobby after the cruise. The only reason they came with us is to protect Buck. They didn't trust me, especially Major Danton."

"With good reason," Buck commented louder than he had intended.

"So what's this agreement you have in mind?" Caputi asked.

"Buck's a reasonable man. If you make a stipulation to your clients to leave Earth alone, I'm sure Buck could talk his superiors into leaving you alone."

"I sell weapons to people who have money. I have no authority to tell them who they can or can't use them against."

"No, but you could do this: you sell the weapons to whoever you want to. If you find out that they are planning on targeting Earth, you can let it slip anonymously to a certain Earth agent. That way you've still made your money. You have agents practically everywhere. It would be easy for you."

"What's in it for me?"

"You'll still be making a ton of money from the sales."

"What's in it for me?" Buck asked.

"You get a jumpstart on anyone who's planning on attacking Earth."

"And what do you get?" Caputi asked Sharese.

She glanced at Buck out of the corner of her eye and grinned. Then she looked back at Caputi. "I get two things. I'm making money from you." She smiled. "And I have a certain Earth agent in my back pocket who owes me his life."

Caputi shook his head and tapped a button on the side of his desk. "I don't know about this. I could just kill him now and get it over with."

The door opened and three guards entered the room with their guns raised. Sharese whirled around and concentrated on the guards. Each one instantly fell to their knees and dropped their guns. She turned back to Caputi.

"Captain Rogers is in my protection!" she hissed.

"You're taking some dangerous risks, Sharese," he glared at her.

She narrowed her eyes. "You still have two more people to interview," she reminded. "You will not make a decision until after all options are weighed."

He continued to glare at her for a long moment before waving his hand backwards. "Fine. You have made your point. You may return Captain Rogers to his cell and bring me the major. But Sharese?"

She had already begun to lead Buck toward the door. She turned to face Caputi. "I still have the final say in this. I will talk to all three and I will make my decision. If I decide to eliminate Captain Rogers, I will deal with anyone who gets in my way. Even you."

She nodded. "Understood." She turned back to Buck. "Follow me."


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Wilma impatiently paced in front of the door while Duke sat on one of the cots and watched. Finally he couldn't take anymore.

"Wilma, why don't you sit down and relax?"

"How can I relax when Buck is being interrogated, probably tortured?"

"You don't have to relax, but you could at least sit down. There's nothing we can do for him as long as we're stuck in here."

"Then we need to get out of here."

Duke sighed heavily. "We've already tried… seven times. There's no way out of this stupid room."

Wilma pounded on the door with her fist. "I'm going to kill her!"

Duke finally stood up and slowly approached Wilma. He moved behind her, placed his hands on her shoulders and began to massage her neck. "You're going to worry yourself sick thinking about what is or isn't happening to him. You know Buck. He's probably planning something already, even while he's talking to Caputi."

Wilma moved away from Duke and sat down on another bunk. "Why'd he have to place so much trust in her? He knew what she was like."

Duke grinned weakly as he shook his head. "Buck is Buck. He wants to trust every woman he sees. But I have to admit that he's usually right."

"Not this time."

Duke nodded. "Not this time," he agreed.

Duke moved to sit on his bunk. The room remained quiet for a few long minutes until Duke sighed loudly. "You know something?"

She simply looked up and over.

Duke smiled wanly. "You don't hide your feelings very well."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she snapped.

"Just what I meant. Everyone can see your feelings for Buck except for maybe yourself. You care for him."

"Of course I do. He's a good friend and a valued agent."

Duke shook his head. "That's not what I meant. He means more to you than that. You just won't admit it to yourself."

She sighed and put her head down. "I know. I try to tell myself that he's only a friend, but when I see him with another woman I just go crazy. But the worst thing is when I am alone with him, I can't bring myself to letting him know how I feel. Listen to me. I sound like a schoolgirl with a crush."

Duke moved to sit beside Wilma and put an arm around her neck. "You have to say something to him before it's too late."

She simply nodded. Just then they heard a noise and the door opened. Once more the soldiers poured in to form the semicircle again. Buck turned the corner and slowly stepped through the soldiers. Sharese entered the room behind him.  
"Major Danton: it's your turn," she said.

Wilma jumped to her feet and rushed to Buck. "Are you alright?"

Buck nodded once. "Yeah, I'm fine. All we did was talk." He looked over at Duke who was still sitting on the cot. "It's okay, Duke. He's not torturing us or interrogating us or anything. All we did was talk."

Duke took a deep breath and slowly stood up. He went to the front of the room and carefully slipped between two soldiers. Sharese smirked and looked over at Wilma.

"Don't go anywhere, Colonel. You're next!"

Duke raised his hand to punch Sharese in the back of the head, but he was too slow. She whirled around and stared into his eyes. Instantly he dropped to his knees in pain. Several of the soldiers turned and began beating on him with their weapons. Wilma turned from Buck, but before she could say anything, Sharese beat her to it.

"That's enough!" Sharese screamed.

She changed her concentration from Duke to the three soldiers beating on him. They instantly joined Duke on the floor and writhed in pain for several minutes. When Sharese let go of them, she looked at Duke who had finally made it back to his feet.

"Don't try that again, Major. You forgot I can see what's in your mind and I am quite capable of protecting myself." She turned to the three soldiers now sitting on their knees. "And you three will be punished severely for being out of line. I neither asked for your help nor needed your assistance. I wouldn't even have you here, but your boss requires it. If I need your help, I'll let you know. Until then, let me do my job. Come along, Major. We don't want to keep Mister Caputi waiting. He gets cranky if he's forced to wait too long. So long, Buck." She winked at him. "I'll see you later!"

Quickly everyone left the room and the door noisily clanked shut. Wilma ran up to Buck and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"I was so worried about you," she said softly.

Hesitantly Buck raised his arms to return the hug. Before Wilma knew it, she was stuck in the embrace. Every fiber in her being begged her to break free and back up. Instead she fought her initial urge and quickly kissed Buck before he could break free from the hug. When their lips parted, Buck grinned slightly.

"Maybe I should go missing more often."

Wilma returned the grin as she backed up a step. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "I'm out of line again."

Buck shook his head. "You need to stop apologizing to me."

"I'm sorry," she repeated. In frustration, she sighed and sat down on the bunk. "There I go again."

Buck sat down beside her. "Are you okay?"

"No."

"What's wrong?"

She stared into his eyes. "I haven't been honest with you... or myself."

Buck nodded. He knew where this was going. He smiled. "You don't have to say anymore."

"Yes I do," she answered quickly. "If I don't say it now, I may never get another chance. Buck I... I..." She sighed. "I don't want to lose you."

"You won't. We'll get out of here somehow."

"That's not what I mean. There are so many things I want to say to you, but I'm afraid if I do I might lose you as a friend."

"That's not gonna happen."

She turned away. "All my life all I ever wanted was a career. When I was in the academy, I pushed myself hard, maybe too hard. I learned the hard way what happens when you become too close to a colleague. On my first assignment out of the academy I was deployed on a long range scout ship. I was the only woman on a ship of seventeen. I grew close to one of the crew. His name was Darian; he was the ship's engineer. One day there was an accident in the engine room. One of the engines overloaded and sent us into an asteroid field. We took some major damage before we could get control of the ship. Darian managed to get the engines back online... but only after the entire bottom three levels of the ship had been flooded with radiation... including the engine room. It took us eight days to get home... and four days for him to die. I watched him deteriorate almost by the hour. When we returned back home, the Directorate gave him a hero's welcome and awarded him with the Medal of Honor... and then sent his remains into space. After going through that, I swore to myself that I would never allow myself to become involved with another serviceman or colleague. I was doing a pretty good job of that. Then you came along."

Buck gently put an arm on her shoulder. She looked up into his eyes.

"You have a zest for life. You enjoy life. I feel like life is passing me by without a second glance. If something ever happened and I had to give up my commission, I don't know what I would do. I'm not trained for anything outside military life. I don't have a life outside of the military. All my friends are military. I don't have any outside interests, and it's starting to scare me. I'm not getting any younger."

"So what do you want to do?"

"I don't know. Do you know how long it's been since I've had a vacation? I mean a real vacation?"

"You had the chance to take one just last week."

She nodded. "Yeah, and what did I do? I went back to work! I'm a workaholic!"

Buck grinned. "There used to be support groups for that."

She stared at him for a moment before giggling. "I don't know what that means."

"People with the same problem would get together and try to figure out how to solve it, or at least deal with it. What you need is a real vacation. I think you're stressing out."

"Well you're not helping," she muttered.

Buck pulled back slightly. "What are you talking about?"

"I hear stories about you. What's the name of that girl at the spaceport exchange counter?"

A corner of Buck's mouth upturned. "Twila?"

"Yeah. And then there's that waitress at the officer's club."

Buck turned away to face the door. "Rachael."

"And then there's Doctor Juneas's assistant."

Buck whirled his head around. "Nah, she's just a friend."

"And there's Sharese standing in your room with nothing but a bath towel."

Buck lowered his head. "And a handcuff on one hand that was attached to my hand! That one wasn't my fault."

Wilma nodded. "I know, but you can't tell me that your relationship is purely platonic."

Buck stood up and took a couple steps toward the door. "Now it is."

"So what's going on with her anyway?"

Buck stopped, turned, and shrugged. "I don't know. I wish I knew. Something in my mind keeps telling me that this isn't what it seems."

"She's up to something."

"You can say that again. You want to know what Caputi and I talked about? Sharese! That's the only thing he wanted to talk about. Apparently they used to be engaged and he's jealous that she might like me more than him."

"I don't get it."

Buck shrugged. "I don't either. She started the meeting on his side and then he insulted her and she went over to my side. In fact he tried to have me killed right then and there, but she prevented it. She said that I was under her protection."

"Why would she do that?"

"I don't know, unless it was just a game on their part to try to get me to trust her again. I just don't get it. She's playing some angle somewhere. I don't completely trust her, but I don't mistrust her either. At one point she touched me and I saw a bunch of images in my mind."

"What kind of images?"

He shook his head. "I can't place them. Somehow I get the feeling that she's trying to send me a message, but I'm just not comprehending."

"That's one of your flaws."

He narrowed his eyes and cocked his head. "Huh?"

"I've been trying to send you messages too," she said almost inaudibly.

He returned to the bunk and sat down. "I didn't think you were ready."

She looked away. "I don't know if I am."

Buck gently place a hand on her chin and turned her head around. "I have an idea. As soon as we get through with this and we both get our divorces straightened out," he said with a grin. "We go somewhere together. Just the two of us. We can go anywhere you want. We can go surfing, skiing, island hopping... whatever you want. Just the two of us. No promises, no commitments, no strings. How does that sound?

"And no Twiki?" she asked with a slight smile.

Buck chuckled. "And no Twiki."

She thought for a moment before nodding. "I accept. What's Twiki going to say when he finds out he's not invited?"

Buck rolled his eyes and smiled. "I'll never hear the end of it."


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

When Sharese and the soldiers brought Duke back to the room, nobody said a word. Duke entered the room and then the soldiers and Sharese left immediately without taking Wilma. He entered the room and went straight for the only open bunk. Wilma looked at him.

"What happened?"

"We talked. Mostly about stupid stuff. He talked to me like we were long lost brothers or something. I don't know what he's doing."

"They didn't beat on you or anything?"

Duke shook his head. "No, nothing like that. Tell you the truth, I think I would have preferred to be tortured."

Buck grinned slightly. "I know what you mean."

"How come they didn't take me?" Wilma wondered.

Buck and Duke both turned to look at Wilma. "I guess he doesn't want to talk to you," Buck replied.

Duke scratched his chin. "I wonder if that's a good sign or a bad one?"

Buck started to say something but stopped. The more he thought about the question, the more he wondered the same thing. He swung his legs up onto the bunk and lay down.

Buck rolled over on the cot and suddenly got the strange feeling that he was being watched. He opened his eyes and saw Sharese standing just inside the door.

"What are you doing here?" he asked louder than he intended.

Duke suddenly woke up at hearing Buck's voice. He saw Sharese standing by herself at the door. He jumped to his feet, but didn't move to approach her. She moved slowly toward Buck's bunk.

"I'm here to explain what's going on."

"I know what's going on," Duke said loudly, causing Wilma to wake up. "You're in league with this Caputi guy and one of us is going to die!"

"That's what it's supposed to look like."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm not stupid enough to ask you to trust me… yet. There's only one person here I have to convince."

Everyone turned to look at Buck. He sat up on the cot. "What do you have in mind?" he asked.

"Back up against the wall," she ordered.

He stared into her eyes for only a moment before nodding. He scooted backwards until his back leaned up against the wall. She stepped up to the cot and sat down in his lap. She placed her hands on either side of Buck's head. Wilma started to move toward them, but Buck caught the movement out of the corner of his eye.

"No, Wilma. I think I know what she's doing."

They both closed their eyes. Buck saw the same images in his mind that he had seen in Caputi's office. However, this time they were going slower and he finally figured out what they meant. Sharese was sharing her thoughts, feelings, and intentions with him. They remained in mental communication for several minutes before she released her grip on his head. Slowly they opened their eyes and stared at each other for another long moment. At last Buck nodded.

"It all makes sense," he said.

"What does?" Wilma asked.

Buck continued to look into Sharese's eyes. "Did you really have to sit on my lap to do that?"

She smirked slyly before shaking her head. "No," she breathed softly. "I just like sitting on your lap!"

Buck made a motion and she slid off his lap and onto the cot. Buck turned to face Wilma and Duke.

"She's on our side."

"How can you be so sure?" Wilma asked.

"It was the only way to get Caputi. Without her help, we never would have made it into the mansion. Also, she needed us to get herself inside the mansion."

"Let me get this straight," Duke started. "You needed us to get inside?"

She nodded. "I don't have much time to explain. I was able to disable the monitoring device in this room, but I don't know how long it's going to last. Let me explain quickly. Buck and I agreed that we were going to go after Caputi. I would have preferred to leave him alone, but I gave Buck my word, and I know how much that means to him, I couldn't turn my back on him when we got rid of the handcuffs. I needed Caputi to believe that I was coming back to him, so I had to pretend to turn you all over to him. That got me in the mansion, and it got you inside the mansion. I had every intention of killing him once I got my chance and then coming back to save you."

"Then why didn't you?" Wilma asked.

"Two reasons: first of all, I couldn't. Somewhere he picked up some kind of technology that blocks my psychic powers. He also has a personal shield which makes any physical assault ineffective. Second of all, I found out that he has more than one factory. Buck wants to put him out of business, but destroying the factory on this planet would only hurt the business, not destroy it. We need to find out where the other factories are located."

Wilma nodded reluctantly. "That does make sense."

"So if we can't get through his shield, where does that leave us?" Duke asked.

"There is someone who can get through the shield," Buck answered.

Duke and Wilma looked at Buck and grinned. "Varek!" they said together.

Just on cue Varek walked through the wall into the room. Buck stood up and shook the big man's hand.

"Do you know what she's planning?"

Varek nodded. "I do."

"Can you do it?"

"I don't know. I have never tried it before. But I don't see a reason why it wouldn't work."

"What's going on?"

Buck turned to Sharese. "Go ahead. It's your plan."

She turned to Duke and Wilma. "I actually got the idea when Buck was looking for Bettino's ship. He said that Bettino was going to get his revenge for Caputi killing him. Then when I heard how Varek can transform his molecules, I wondered if there was something else he could do with them. He said that he can transform them to change the way light reflects, so I asked him if he could manipulate individual molecules."

"Get on with it," Buck urged. "We don't have much time."

She nodded and looked at Varek. "Show them."

Varek closed his eyes and began to manipulate his body. He turned invisible at first, and then slowly came back into view. The only difference was that he no longer looked like himself: he looked like Pep Bettino! Everyone looked at him in amazement.

"How long can you hold that shape?" Buck asked.

"I am not sure. I have never done anything like this before."

Buck tapped him on the shoulder. "Okay, that's enough. I don't want you wearing yourself out on us."

Varek quickly became himself again. Wilma smiled and shook her head. "That's amazing!"

Sharese went to the door and picked up a small duffel bag she had dropped there. She handed the bag to Duke. "Here's the plan for everyone. I need you to go back into the factory and plant the bombs again. In exactly one hour they will be detonated."

"Wait a minute. It took four of us half an hour to plant all those bombs. How am I going to do all of that in an hour?"

"There is a uniform in there. You will not have to sneak around and avoid anyone. There is also a keycard in there that will give you access to anywhere in the factory you want to go. There is also a letter of authorization for the guards at the tram station. When you're done planting the bombs, I want you to go to the spaceport. You will be able to use the transponders there to activate the bombs. Just remember: you have exactly one hour."

"What happens in one hour?"

She ignored the question and moved to Wilma. "I want you to go to Caputi's office." She handed her a small plastic card. "This will let you access his computer. I don't know what you'll find there, but this card should give you freedom to explore what's on the computer."

"What about Buck?" she asked.

"He's with me," Sharese answered.

"Of course," Wilma muttered.

Sharese went to the door and opened it. "You know the way back to the station, Major?"

He nodded.

"Good. Everyone else with me. Let's go."


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

One of the guards looked quizzically down the hall before turning to his partner. "Did you hear that?" he asked.

"Hear what?"

He shook his head. "I don't know. That's why I asked you."

Just then it sounded again. They both exchanged unknowing looks. It sounded like footsteps coming toward them from down the long hall. They both raised their guns. The first one took several steps down the hall before stopping. The sound of footsteps continued to come toward them.

"Who's there?" he called.

Suddenly the image of a face appeared halfway down the hall for only an instant. Both soldiers fired their weapons at the face which immediately disappeared. But the footsteps didn't. They continued to walk down the hall toward them. A couple moments later the face appeared again much closer. Once more they both fired their weapons at the face. This time, however, the face didn't disappear. The laser fire passed straight through the eerily smiling face. As it approached, the rest of the body slowly came into view. No matter how many times they fired their guns, the body kept coming toward them. Sudden recognition hit both soldiers at the same time.

"Bettino?" they screamed in unison.

The transparent figure reached out his two hands and placed them on either side of the two now paralyzed with fear soldiers' heads. With amazing speed and strength, he slammed the two men's heads together. They collapsed to the floor, unconscious. He then turned to the right and easily stepped through the wall.

The door opened and Barrett Caputi stepped into the hall. "What the devil is going on out here?"

He noticed the two guards lying on the floor. He quickly returned inside and slammed the door. He went to the communications console on the nightstand and tapped a button. The image of a woman's face appeared on the screen.

"Are you monitoring the cameras outside my hallway?"

"Yes, Sir."

"What do you see?"

"Nothing unusual, Sir. Everything appears… wait a minute… what the?..."

"What?"

"Your guards banged their heads together and fell to the floor."

"How is that possible? I saw them lying on the floor twenty seconds before I called you?"

"I don't know, Sir."

"Did you see anything else? Why did they bang heads?"

"I didn't see anything else, Sir."

Caputi shook his head. "Send me two more guards immediately."

"Yes, Sir."

It took a few minutes before Caputi heard someone outside his door. He went into the hall to see the new soldiers. They saluted and Caputi simply nodded in return. He slammed the door and went back to his bed. He had barely laid his head on the pillow when he heard one of the soldiers screaming and the unmistakable sound of a gun firing. He leaped to his feet and ran out the door. Once again both soldiers were lying unconscious on the floor. He rushed back to the nightstand.

"Did you see anything this time?" he asked.

The woman hesitated for a few seconds. She appeared to be watching another monitor. When she turned back to face Caputi, her eyes were widened beyond normal proportion. "The same thing, Sir. They seemed to bang heads together and then they collapsed."

"What the devil is going on?" he nearly screamed.

"I don't know, Sir."

He shook his head. He noticed that his hands were trembling. "Why am I seeing them on the floor before you are?" he wondered almost to himself. "Send me two more guards immediately."

"Yes, Sir."

This time Caputi went to the hallway to wait for the guards. In a minute, two more soldiers came running down the hall. When they saw the four unconscious guards, they slowed.

"What happened?" one asked.

"I don't know. Don't worry about them. Guard this door."

"Yes, Sir."

Caputi returned to his room. As soon as the door shut, he counted to ten and then stepped back toward the door. As soon as he touched the button to open the door, he heard both soldiers scream. The door opened wide and Caputi started out but instantly stopped in his tracks. He saw the image of Bettino slamming the two guards' heads together. Bettino turned to stare deeply into Caputi's eyes. The image of Bettino smiled. Caputi jumped back into the room and quickly slammed the door shut. He rushed back to the nightstand and grabbed the pistol beside the communications monitor. He turned back just in time to see Bettino walking through the closed door.

"Hello, Mister Caputi," he said. "Remember me?"

Caputi raised the weapon and fired. The laser passed straight through the ethereal form and imbedded into the door. He fired again with the same result. Bettino began to advance toward the nightstand.

"What are you doing here?" Caputi asked.

"What do you mean? I'm here to get my revenge. You killed me, remember?"

"I didn't kill you! I had nothing to do with that!"

The image laughed loudly. "Right," he said, unconvinced. "You are the man in charge here. Nothing happens without your knowledge or consent. You ordered my death. You are as guilty as if you had pulled the trigger yourself."

Caputi quickly looked around the room. "Who are you? I don't believe in ghosts! What's going on here? How'd you get in here?"

"You don't have to believe in ghosts. And as for how I got here? Well, if you remember, I was killed here. Maybe not in this particular room, but I was killed in this mansion. I tried to get even with you by sending my ship into your house, but your people were too quick. So now I've had to take matters into my own hands."

Caputi's eyes widened. "You sent your ship into my house?"

"I tried to. Well, actually I had Sharese and Captain Rogers try to send it into your house, but who do you think helped them find the ship?"

"What? Sharese? Sharese tried to kill me?"

The image smirked with pleasure. "Yes. I found out why she was trying to kill me. Apparently I inadvertently killed her parents during one of my prototype presentations. When you killed me, I appeared to her in a dream and told her that it was really your idea to destroy that city on Ballista Prime. That's when I told her about my ship. I tried to distract your technicians from seeing the ship that night, but they were too dedicated. I had hidden enough weapons on the ship that would have utterly destroyed the whole house. Unfortunately your people were too quick and destroyed the ship before it could get close enough."

"But I had that ship searched for weapons! That ship was stripped of everything!"

"That's what I let them think."

"But we went through the entire ship with sensors and everything!"

Bettino laughed again. He stepped toward Caputi who backed up until he ran into a wall. Bettino raised his hand.

"Go ahead and hit me," he said defiantly. "I have a personal shield."

Bettino impacted his right backhand squarely onto Caputi's cheek. Caputi staggered slightly as he surprisedly looked up at the figure. "How'd you do that?"

"Do you think a shield means anything to me?"

Quickly he punched him again on the jaw. Caputi's head slammed against the wall. He ducked underneath another punch and quickly moved back into the center of the room. "Get away from me!"  
Bettino shook his head. "I'm going to kill you. You can't get away from me."

Caputi rapidly backed his way toward the door. He raised his gun and fired again. Once more the laser simply passed through the body. He opened the door and backed out into the hallway.

"Where do you think you can hide from me?" the figure asked.

"I know who you are!" Caputi screamed. "You're Sharese's partner! You won't get away with this! Leave me alone or I'll kill her!"

"You'd better hurry. I have to tell you that she's in her room right now plotting how to kill you… but she's not alone. She has Captain Rogers down there. It would appear that they've grown rather fond of each other since I handcuffed them together. I must admit that I did not foresee that when I handcuffed them. I figured she would end up killing him in his sleep. I guess I was wrong."

"You're lying! Buck Rogers is locked up in the basement!"

Bettino shook his head. "Not anymore, he isn't. In fact, none of them are."

"You're crazy!"

Bettino laughed. "No, I'm dead! And you will be soon too!"

Caputi rushed out the door and down the hall. Before he could reach the end of the hall, though, the figure had caught up with him and punched him in the back of the head. Caputi reached the stairs and ran down three at a time. Half way down the stairs, he felt someone push him in the back. He went flying face first and tumbled down the rest of the stairs. When he reached the bottom, he fired his gun up the stairs. He scrambled to his feet and rand down another hall. Just before he reached the door to Sharese's room, Varek appeared several feet away further down the hall. Caputi skidded to a stop. He looked fearfully at Varek for only a moment, and then turned around and looked down the hall from which he had just come. He turned back to Varek.

"How'd you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Get in front of me! You just pushed me down the stairs! How'd you get in front of me?" he screamed.

Varek narrowed his eyes. "What are you talking about? I wasn't upstairs."

Caputi chuckled unsurely. "Right. And I suppose now you're going to tell me that Sharese isn't in there with Buck Rogers trying to figure out how to kill me!"

"She is in there with Captain Rogers, but they're not plotting your death. They are engaged in… something else," Varek said, allowing his voice to trail off.

"Right," Caputi said sarcastically.

He stepped toward the door control. "I wouldn't go in there," Varek said.

Caputi raised his keycard and slid it into the door control. The door opened. He took one more look at Varek before entering the room. He took several steps into the room and then suddenly stopped. Buck and Sharese were lying topless in the bed, kissing passionately with Sharese on top. At the sound of the door opening, they both turned their heads to face him. Sharese quickly ducked underneath the covers and rolled behind Buck who already had a pistol in his right hand. He fired at Caputi who instinctively jumped back. The laser fire impacted the personal shield and harmlessly dissipated before it could reach Caputi's body. Caputi raised his weapon and aimed it at Buck. Before he could fire, however, Bettino's image stepped in front of him and knocked the gun to the floor with one hand and punched him in the face with the other. Caputi backed out the door and looked down the hall. His heart stopped when he saw Varek standing there exactly as he had before he had entered the room.

"What the? How'd you do that?"

"Do what?" Varek asked.

"You just punched the gun out of my hand!"

Varek shook his head. "I didn't do anything. I was standing here the whole time," he replied sincerely.

Varek took one step toward Caputi. In an instant Caputi turned and ran down the hall. Varek stepped into the doorway and looked inside. Buck gave him a thumb up and smiled. "You've got him on the run, Varek! Go after him! We're right behind you!"

Varek disappeared down the hall as the door closed. Buck started to get up, but Sharese pulled him back down onto the bed.

"Where do you think you're going?" she asked.

"Shouldn't we go after Caputi?"  
She climbed back on top of him and pulled the sheets over their heads. "Not yet. We're going to finish what you started," she said seductively.

"What I started?" he asked incredulously.

She grinned slyly. "Yeah… what you started."

He started to say something else, but quickly forgot what he was going to say.

Caputi ran into his office and saw Wilma sitting behind the desk and working on his computer. "What are you doing?" he screamed.

"I'm looking at your records," she replied matter of factly. "What does it look like I'm doing?"

"Like hell you are!"

He reached for his gun before remembering that he had lost it a few minutes ago. He broke into a run toward the desk, but before he could get there, Bettino's imaged appeared and punched him in the face again. Caputi fell to the floor. "Stop doing that!" he screamed.

Bettino smiled. "What's wrong, Mister Caputi? Getting frustrated? What would you say if I told you that your factory was about to be blown up?"

"You're full of it! We already found all the bombs they planted!"

Bettino's image pretended to look at a watch on his wrist. "Okay. Keep believing that. Oh, wait a minute… three… two… one..."

He pointed at Caputi who still sat on the floor. Suddenly the whole mansion seemed to shake as a loud explosion sounded outside. "That would be your factory blowing up," the image said.

"How?"

Bettino smiled as he kicked Caputi in the ribs. "Don't worry. Your house is safe and so is the spaceport. I can't say the same for your factory, though. Your shield kept all the damage inside. Except for the ground shocks, though."

Caputi scrambled to his feet. "I'll kill you!" he hissed.

Bettino laughed loudly. "You already did, remember? Can I give you a little piece of advice?"

"What?"

"Run! Run for your life! If you're fast enough, you might reach the spaceport before I do. In fact, I'll even give you a thirty second head start."

"And do what?"

"This is your one and only chance to escape me." He looked down at his nonexistent watch. "Twenty-five seconds."

Caputi turned on his heels and ran out the door. Wilma giggled as she looked at the form of Bettino. "Nice touch!"

He turned and grinned at Wilma before disappearing. Seconds later Varek entered the room. "Was Caputi in here?" he asked, huffing.

Wilma's grin disappeared. "Of course he was. You just sent him to the spaceport with a thirty second head start!"

Varek shook his head. "No I didn't."

"Varek, if you're trying to scare me, stop it!"

He held up his hands. "I swear to you I just got here."

"Are you telling me that you didn't punch him in the face and send him to the spaceport?"

"I am. The aftershock of the explosion sent a ripple effect through my body. I am currently incapable of changing my molecules. I am as human as you are."

He tried to put his hand through the nearest wall but failed. Wilma slowly stood. "Then who did I see?"


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

Caputi ran down the stairs to the basement and to the tram station. Without even looking at the two guards, he entered the station and programmed it to take him to the spaceport. When he reached the spaceport, he noticed Duke standing just inside the station. He paused just for an instant on his way to the floor of the hangar. He immediately went straight to his ship and fired up the engines. Just before he maneuvered the ship into the launch tube, he happened to glance out the window. He saw Bettino's image standing on the catwalk. Bettino smiled and waved to Caputi before slowly disappearing. Caputi moved his ship into the launch tube. Within seconds, he was hurtling through the night sky toward space.

Wilma rushed down the corridor. Just before she reached the door, it opened and Buck exited into the hallway. Wilma couldn't stop herself fast enough and she bowled right into him, sending both to the floor. Sharese and Varek stepped over to help them both to their feet.

"We have a problem," Wilma said excitedly.

"What is it?" Buck asked.

"Caputi is getting away! He's going to the spaceport!"

Sharese grinned and shook her head. "That's exactly what I wanted him to do."

Wilma narrowed her eyes and pulled her gun. "You intended for him to get away all along?"

She shook her head again. "He's not getting away. There is a fleet of Earth Directorate ships waiting for him."

"Why?"

"Because I called them," she smiled broadly. "I informed your directorate of my plan to get Caputi off Edenbridge. They jumped at the opportunity to apprehend him in neutral space."

"But I saw Bettino in the office, but Varek said it wasn't him."

Sharese smiled as she started walking down the hall. "Just a little optical illusion I set up to scare him. Come with me and I'll show you how I did it."

Buck and Varek followed Sharese down the hall leaving Wilma standing by the doorway. She simply stood there for a moment before rushing to catch up.

Caputi inputted a set of coordinates into the ship's navigational console and headed toward the stargate. Suddenly an alarm sounded. He looked down at the radar and swore.

"Barrett Caputi," sounded a voice over the radio. "This is Earth Directorate Cruiser Mithras. You are ordered to surrender immediately or you will be fired upon. This is your only warning."

Caputi slammed his control stick to the maximum setting and the ship lurched forward. Suddenly an explosion sounded behind him and the ship began to slow its forward momentum. Before he knew it, he was being pulled backward. In frustration, he let go of all the controls and sat back in his seat.

The ship was pulled into the hangar bay of the large ship. Doctor Huer stepped onto the hangar floor, followed by Twiki and Doctor Theopolis. Huer held up an object that looked remarkably like a walkie talkie.

"Barrett Caputi, this is Doctor Huer of the Earth Defense Directorate. You are hereby ordered to surrender and exit your ship unarmed."

He picked up his microphone. "Or what? You can't kill me! I have a personal shield!"

"Yes, we know about your shield. My question to you is how much food and water do you have on board?"

"Why?"

Huer shrugged and grinned slightly. "Because we can wait as long as it takes until you either pass out or surrender. My guess is that you didn't have much time to load too many supplies onboard before you left."

Caputi started to say something until he realized that Huer probably wasn't bluffing. He set the microphone down and opened the hatch to the ship. Slowly he left the ship and climbed down to the hangar floor. Two soldiers stepped up to him and clasped his hands behind his back. Caputi looked at Huer and sighed.

"So how did you manage to get Sharese to work for you?"

"We didn't," Theo answered. "She called us."

He shook his head and sighed again. "Your Captain Rogers must really be something," he muttered.

"Why do you say that?" Huer asked.

"Anyone who can get to Sharese and make her go straight like he did is really something."

"Beep-be-de-de-beep: you better believe it, bub."

Twiki turned to face the two soldiers behind Caputi. "Beep-be-de-de-beep: book him, Danno."

(change in scene)

Sharese had just finished showing them her setup, including the multiple holographic imagers, when the communications console beside the computer on the desk sounded. Wilma stepped up to the monitor and activated it. Doctor Huer's face appeared on the screen.

"Ahh, Colonel Deering. Good work. Barrett Caputi has been apprehended. He hasn't given us any information yet, but he will once we reach the labs in the Directorate. Is Buck there?"

Buck stepped up to the screen. "Right here, Doc."

"Were you able to remove the handcuff?"  
He raised his left arm to show the screen. "Yep. I'm a single man again."

Sharese stepped up beside Buck. "Not exactly. We are still legally married, you know."  
Doctor Huer grinned. "I can start the paperwork as soon as I get back to my office. I can have the divorce proceedings in order and ready for you to sign in two days. I'll have yours ready too, Colonel. Speaking of which, where is Major Danton?"

"He's at the spaceport," Wilma answered.

"Very good. I'll see you back on Earth."

"Beep-be-de-de-beep: take it easy, Buck!"

The screen went blank. Wilma turned to Buck. "Well, are you ready to go?"

"What's the rush?" Sharese asked. "We're not due back for two more days."

"That's true, Wilma," Buck agreed. "You're always saying that you never get to take a real vacation. You still have the rest of your reservation at the resort to finish. It's already paid for."

She grinned. "What about you? You checked out."

Sharese held out her hands. "We have this whole house we can use. I have first dibs on the hot tub."

"Where's the hot tub?" Buck asked.

She shrugged. "I don't know, but it has to have one somewhere."

"I have a question," came a voice from the corner of the room.

Everyone turned to look at Varek who was still kneeling, inspecting one of the holographic imagers that Sharese had set up. "What?" she asked.

"I just finished checking all the imagers you had set up."

"Yeah, so?"

He shook his head. "They were all turned off."

She cocked her head. "That's impossible. I turned them on myself."

He shrugged one shoulder. "Maybe so, but every single imager was turned off. And what's more; the energy usage gauge still shows one hundred percent… on all of them. These imagers were never used."

Buck and Wilma turned to look at Sharese. Her eyes narrowed.

"If the imagers were turned off and Varek was incapacitated by the blast from the factory," Wilma started. "Then who did I see punch Caputi in the face and send to the spaceport?"

Everyone looked at everyone else unsurely. Buck finally turned on his heels and headed for the door. "Where are you going?" Sharese asked.

He stopped ever so briefly to turn and look behind him. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm outa here. I'll meet you all at the spaceport."

Sharese and Wilma exchanged unsure glances.

"Wait up," they said in unison.

Varek watched them quickly leave the room. Slowly he rose to his feet and grinned ever so slightly.

THE END


End file.
